The adventures of Chrysanthemum Lilica
by BewitchedCupcake
Summary: After her sister, Karen's, death, Chrysanthemum was left alone. She grew up being quiet and intreverted until she attempted to follow in her sister's footsteps and join the Blue Pegasus guild where she met Fudo, Nova and Ichigo. As a team, they persue a mission to defeat the four demons of Zeref. Please rate and review
1. Introducton

Chapter one: Introduction.

The train had gone for miles now. The 'Clickity-clack' noise that seemed to continue replaying in Chrys's mind had been almost never-ending, so it sounded like music to her ears when someone actually spoke.

"Next stop: Magnolia!" the muffled voice informed.

"Darn, it's still quite a long way to get to where I want to be." Chrysanthemum thought to herself half-heartedly. She then looked down at her favourite gate key that was threaded through a silver chain around her neck. Andromeda... Gate of the chained princess. Chrys sighed, hoping this was the right idea. Maybe following in her sister, Karen's footstepswasn't such a good plan. She did get killed after all... Normally, thinking about that didn't upset Chrys. It was over seven years so she thought she'd gotten over it. Infact, it didn't really occur to to her how much she missed her until now. She was really arrogent sometimes and could be difficult to handle, but Chrys never forgot the times where she begged Karen to giver her make-overs.

"Eww, make-up" she shuddered at the mere thought of a tomboy's worst enemy.

As her thoughts trailed on, the train hissed to a stop.

"All aboard, Magnolia!" Vociferated one of the train opperators.

Groups of people got off, and even more climbed aboard, Including a rather perculiar blue cat.

The scuffle of people died down shortly afterwards, leaving behind the silence of nothing but the 'Clickity-clack' noise of the train. It would be atleast four more hours before Chrys's destination, so she decided to take a short nap. Before doing so, she reached into her denim bag and retrieved a small, round pocket mirror. This was a common procedure before she slept. As usual, she was not happy with the girl staring back at her.

She resembled a younger, make-up-less version of her sister. Her pale green hair just reached past her shoulders and consisted of two large, wavy sections at the front on either side. Instead of letting her dramatic side fringe flop over her right eye, she secured it across and held it in place using a silver hair clip.

Just as she's finished examining herself, she packed away her mirror and fell into slumber's luring trap.


	2. Humiliation on the train

**Hi, this is my first fanfic so sorry if it's badly written or has spelling mistakes. The first chapter was kind of like a 'Pilot' to see if anyone acctually read it, so here's chapter two :)**

As Chrys was waking up, she saw flashes of daylight flicker through her blinking eyes. They eventually focused on what seemed like an argument between two conflicting guild members. It was thier shouting and cussing that had awoke her. Slightly irritated by this, the celestial mage yelled out rashly:  
"Would you two shut your faces?"  
The two boys turned round to see Chrys sitting furiously at her seat. They were shocked at what had just been said to them, but before they could reply, a beautiful, armoured mage arose aggressively, making her long scarlet hair ripple violently as she did.  
"Natsu! Gray!" belowed the woman. Never before had Chrys seen such an intimidating glare. She was just glad it wasn't being aimed at her. The scarlet-haired mage's eyes narrowed menacingly, warning off all male 'spectators'. However the two boys' eyes widened considerably as sweat accumulated on thier foreheads.  
"Sorry, Erza!" they chanted in unison and, as if by magic, they merrily sat down. Just how scary was this 'Erza'? The woman then turned to face Chrys, whos eyes were already as wide as Gray and Natsu's. She was shaking in her seat as if she expected the same treatment. Then, the menacing glare that posessed her facial feautures about two seconds ago had suddenly turned to sincerity.  
"I apologize for thier behaviour earlier, it won't happen again." her calm voice spoke.  
Struggling not to look at all scared, Chrys replied,  
"It's o-okay."  
The elegant woman tipped her head respectfully then joined her fellow guild members.

As soon as Erza turned round, Chrys felt herself relaxing. One thing was for certain, she didn't want to run into _her _again. She then looked down to realize that she was subconsiously clutching Andromeda's key. The pale-haired mage smiled to herself when she thought about how stupid she must've looked. Nevermind. Atleast it all kept her entertained for a while, besides, it's not like she was ever going to meet them again.

Blissfully, Chrys checked her surroundings. The train had just passed a thick, eerie forest that had stretched for approximately 3 miles. The sun was a fluorescent bead in the centre of a blue ring, shining down on the earth like a giant lightbulb. Each individual beam of light pierced thier seperate holes through the thick, white clouds, highlighting a tall, castle-like building that towered above any tree. The centre of it beared the symbol of the Blue Pegasus guild. Chrys gasped in delight.  
"I'd better look presentable, so I'll change my clothes before the train stops in twenty minutes." She murmered happily under her breath.  
"Wait... Twenty minutes?"  
Chrys lept to her feet, and carrying her bag, sprinted to the bathroom, passing a confused Natsu, Erza, Gray and some blonde girl in the process. She ran along along the burgundy-carpeted isle and slammed the door at the back of the carriage shut. She searched through her denim bag hurreidly and pulled out a cropped, black, halter-neck top and a pair of brown, baggy, cloth traousers.

As her trousers were slipped on and her gate keys attached to her belt, the celestial mage heard a rattling at the door knob. Good job she locked it or the poor person would see her in her bra-hold on...

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Chrys screamed in embarrassment as blood catapulted from the boy's nose. Before she had time to yell at him for being a pervert, he rammed the door shut.

"Who the hell did he think he was?" she questioned herself as she stroppily pulled on her belly-top.  
"Walking in on me like that! What a perve! I'm going to get him!" She tied the strings of her top together at the back of her neck.  
"It wasn't my fault I forgot to lock the door, I was in a rush! It's not as if _he's _joining the blue pegasus guild. I bet the boys there have way more class!"  
Tears accumulated in her eyes as she bethought the fact that she just publicly hummiliated herself infront of the whole carriage, and that the train would be stopping any minute. She was going to have to leave the safety of the bathroom at some point soon or she'd be stuck for another five hours before she could even get a glimpse of intelligent civillisation.

"Clickity-clack, clickity-clack... clickity-clack... Hiss!" went the train as if it knew exactly what situation she was in. Chrys whimpered as her hand shakily turned the door knob. She decided to leave the bathroom, run across the isle, and leave the train in a one-er and as fast as possible. The embarassed mage hunched her shoulders up to her chin, looked down at the floor and flung the door open. The train was quite quiet for she was one of the very few people that were getting off. As the pale-haired mage speed-walked down the isle using her over-sized feet, the passengers either frowned upon her, laughed at her or gave her 'I feel sorry for you, better luck next time' gazes. She ignored all of them. She just wanted to get away.


	3. In the woods

**Hey! So this is the third chapter, again, I'm incredibly sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes. Hope you enjoy reading and if you have an idea or want to point out any flaws, please review so I can make it better. Enjoy :)**

Chapter 3 - In the woods

Chrysanthemum felt herself wobble as her first foot hit solid ground. Freedom!

It was the middle of the day so she just had time to walk to the Blue Pegasus guild before it got dark. She exited the train station, glad to finnaly be able to stretch her legs and move without the force of the train encouraging her to fall about and push herself in the direction she was aiming for. She was also glad to get away from the incident that occured in the bathroom.

"Erghh..." She decided that she would never again recall that.

The celestial mage looked at what was before her, a winding path lead deep into the forest she passed on the tedious train journey here. Green, bushy trees dominated her vision as she looked up to try and spot the top of the guild hall.

"Oh, well. I guess I'll have to navigate my own way through the forest." The miffed mage mumbled as she trudged through a nearby tree opening.

As soon as she'd brushed the twigs out of her hair and shook off any leaves, she took a look around. Trees. All she could see were trees. Infact, she was surprised they even let any light through.

"Great. Well, isn't this typical?" She spoke out.

"You really think _you _could manage to pass through a three mile forest without some sort of unimaginalbey tolerant escort?" A voice spoke.

"Who's there?" Chrys pivoted around to where the sound was coming from and switched to her agressive mode.

As the figure stepped out of the shadows, she recognised him at once. As if her day couldn't possibly get any worse... It was the bathroom guy. She could feel her face gradually heating up. This embarasment was slowly converted into rage. Chrys swipped her hand past her belt, expecting to pick up her gate keys.

"Ahhh! My keys!" she shrieked in horror.

Bathroom guy sighed as he tossed a set of shiny, silver keys in her direction. Immidiatly recognising the object, the pale-haired mage snatched them from mid-air, clutching them in a fist.

"I belive you owe me a 'thank you'." Bathroom guy stated.  
"I belive you owe _me _an apology." Chrys replied.

"It's not my fault that you left the door unlocked."  
"I was in a rush, and if you're so good at navigating and all, you should've been able to tell I was in there, you pervert!"

"Now you're just making up excuses!"  
"You owe me an apology _and_ a thank you now, normally I would've beaten someone like you up."

"Belive me, there's nothing thankful about the sight of _your _body."  
"WHAT HAS THAT GO TO DO WITH ANYTHING?"  
Bathroom guy chuckled, although he didn't like to admit it, he rather enjoyed pushing her buttons.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere better to be." Chrys said as she advanced through the thick forest, attempting to end the argument.

"See you around... Perve." She added.

"The name's Fudo. And there's no way you're getting out the other end of this forest alone, flasher."

"If you want to come with me, then calling me 'Flasher' isn't the right way to go."  
"Then what do I call you?"  
"Chrys."  
"A manly name for a manly figure... that fits." Fudo sniggered as he caught up with her.

"What... did... you... say?" the celestial mage growled as she put on her best 'Erza' glare.

"Erm.. Nothing" he replied, realizing he'd gone two far this time.

The two of them crunched through the dead leaves and twigs, with Fudo in the lead. It was the late afternoon now.

"How are you so good at navigation?" Chrys enquired curiously.

"It links in with my power," he said as he started to smile, glad that there was atleast some conversation flowing. "I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier.."  
"Oh, okay." Chrys replied, suddenly uninterested in what he was saying.

Just then, they heard a rustle in the trees pointing directly above them. They both briskley looked above them to see a dark figure topple elegantly downwards and land straight infront of them.

It was a female with short, choppy, blue hair, swept over to one side. She wore a red leather jacked with the 'Red Hood' dark guild stamp imprinted on the chest.

Fudo, regognising straight away that this was an unwanted encounter, sternly asked;

"What do you want?"

The girl then smiled, not saying a word until she brought out a yellow light pen from one of her pockets.

"Pict magic! Swordsman!"

Just like that, the girl illustrated a neatly drawn knight in mid-air which soon became a reality. Stood before her was a knight in shinning armour, holding a 1 metre, sharp sword.

Just as Fudo was about to fight back, he was interrupted by a harsh nudge from the determined Chrysanthemum. She the closed her eyes and clutched the silver key dangling from her neck.

"Open, gate of the chained princess... Andromeda!" she chanted as a magic circle appeared before her. A Beautiful spirit gracefully stepped out from another world, her long blonde hair reaching down to her waist and her lusterous tiara sparkling in the little light that was passing through the gaps in the trees above. In both hands she held a long, expandable chain. This was her weapon.

The knight made the first move, he drew his magnificent sword and charged. The chained princess narrowly avoided his attack by whipping hair chain infront of his ankles, causing him to trip up. She ended the battle by wrapping the fallen figure up in the cold, metal rope, tightening it and tightening it before the once proud knight disintegrated.

The girl from the Red Hood guild stood flabergasted, until making a quick exit. The crunching noise of the girl's footsteps got quieter and quieter as she absconded.

"You're not half bad... for a flasher." Fudo joked as Chrys drastically attempted to keep composed. She didn't know if it was a compliment or an insult, so she just avoided it completely. It was getting darker and darker outside.

"May I ask why you're still following me? Or if you were getting off at my stop before you noticed that I'd dropped my keys?"

"So many questions... I'm following you because you're clearly going to get lost if I don't, I need to pass through this forest anyway. And I was already getting off at your stop before I noticed and _kindly _gave you your keys back. You know, the kind action that I didn't get any grattitude from." Fudo replied.

"Okay... And we've already been over why I didn't thank you." Chrys was starting to get slightly freaked out about the fact that a guy she'd only just met cared so much about her well-being.

Fudo smiled at her, exposing his straight, white teeth. He didn't seem half bad apart from the constant insults that erupted from his mouth. His blonde, side-fringed hair spiked up on one side, while having the other side of the parting flat, his serene, green eyes calmly stared at her as if he was expecting her to say something.

"It's getting late. Where are you heading off to after we get to the other side of the forest?" she asked to break the tension.

"The same place as you hopefully. The Blue Pegasus guild."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?" Chrys screached as streaks of light from the other side of the forest came into view.


	4. Blue Pegasus

**Heyy! Sorry about the layout at the end of the chapter, word went funny and I didn't know how to fix it. _ Thank you for advertising my story and such, Glimmeringtophat! If you haven't yet read her amazing set of stories, I suggest you do. Anyhow, Hope you guys enjoy**** the next chapter! :3**

Chapter Four: Blue Pegasus.

"_You're _in the Blue Pegasus guild?" Chrys asked in disbelief.

"Why are you so surprised?" Fudo replied grumpily as they travelled up a set of white stairs.

Thier conversation was soon interupted by a large, castle-like, wooden door with a broad, metal handle in the shape of a heart. As the two looked up, they saw the magnificent guild hall. The church-like building consisted of pink bricks and stain-glass windows. Two large, white angel wings hung proudly on either side and a large, turquoise dome stood at the top. The middle was fashioned with the emblem of the Blue pegasus guild on a silk flag.

"We're here," he smiled, showing off his pointed teeth. "Word of warning before we enter though..." Just as that was said, a bunch of people burst out the door, causing the two mages to leap back, avoiding any physical contact with the door, _or_ the people.

"It's the new member! It's Karen's sister!" They screamed in delight. These were obviously her older sister's ex-fangirls. As soon as they had a chance to look at Chrys proberly, they noticed her shape-less, slim figure and her make-up-less face and slowed down thier pace to a stop.

"Erm... Hi." She greeted nervously.

"Oh... Hi," One of them said to break the awkwardness. "Hey, Fudo!" she then said, winking flirtatiously in the process. The other girls giggled and followed him into the guild hall with an unsure Chrys trailing behind.

The interior looked amazing. It resembled an elegant pub, it was adorned by rectangular tables with benches at both sides. Too bad she was too nervous to notice it. By the upper-left corner stood a bar, and standing next to it was none other than the guild master, Bob, who noticed the arrival of the new member and airily tip-toed across the floor tiles towards her. Fudo, however was nowhere to be seen.  
"Well, Hello, darling! I'm Bob, the master here, you sure look like your sister!" He chuckled as he lifted his hand and positioned it next to his stubbly mouth.

"Let me show you around!" He cheered as he grabbed her hand.

"I suppose you want to see your room first, don't worry honey, I was going to take you there first anyway," he smiled with happy, kind eyes. "I love your bag! Heart Kreuz! I used to wear that brand alot back when I was a youngster."

"T-Thank you..." Chrys wasn't sure what else she could say.

"Aww, don't worry, you'll get used to the place sooner or later!" He laughed, repeating his signiture hand gesture.

They walked along the floor tiles and up onto the second floor. It looked much the same as the floor below alothough it was smaller and resembled more of a study. She could feel all the judgemental looks she was getting from her soon-to-be fellow guild members. They then turned left into a small halway with doors on either side. They ascended up the hallway, passing different rooms left and right until they got to number 766.

"Here's the key to your room!" Bob informed gleefully, "Wann'a take a look?"

He passed a shiny, pink key in her direction with the numbers '766' Engraved on the handle. The pale-haired mage lifted her hand to the keyhole and turned it. "Click."

The door opened with a creak. As Chrys gazed in she saw an ornate space, with an elaborately decorated pink ceiling and patterned floor tiles. An extravagant, single, pale blue bed, with curtains drapped over the sides was poised next to a stain glass window over-looking the forest. A wooden wardrobe covered the wall on the right and a matching study table lay on the left. Bob saw Chrys's face as she stared in awe.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?" He almost sang. "Unfortunately, it doesn't come without a fee."

"I'm.. Not.. Surprised.." Chrys stated as she was taking in her new surroundings.

"Well, I guess I should give you some time to adjust and then I'll show you how to use the request board!" Bob said energetically as he shut the door.

Chrys then sighed, relifed to finally be on her own. She let her bag fall off her shoulder and onto the hard tiles. She begun to unpack. Lifting everything into her elegant wardrobe, she began to think; Why did those girls suddenly stop talking to me? Am I ugly? What if it's because I'm nothing like my sister? Who knows. She hoped she would get accepted soon.

A few minutes later, a happy Bob lightly tapped on the door.  
"Hey there!"

"Hi, Bob."  
Once again, master Bob grabbed her hand dragged her off to a new location.

"Darling, this is the request board. Humans often post these when they need help with something. It is a mage's duty to take these for food and rent money. The cash reward varies depending on the task level. If it's a small job such as helping out in a shop, the pay isn't very high. However, If it consists of fighting monsters, the pay can last you about 3 months at a time. At the moment, you can only select jobs from this board. The second board is specifically for mages that have successfully passed thier S-class exam. I'm sure Karen told you all about that." Bob said with a reassuring grin. "Which job will it be?"

**Next Chapter: Chrysanthemum's first job.**


	5. Chrysanthemum's first job

**Hi, readers! It took me a whille to write this so I hope you enjoy it! I won't be posting in a while because me and my friends are going to France on a school trip in 4 days. Can't waiiiiit XD I've just realised how many spelling mistakes were in that last chapter and I'm so sorry! Hopefully this one will be better. I'm going to work on a front cover for this story to give you a better idea of what the characters look like (that's if I can get my scanner working). Anyway - Hope you enjoy! :)**

Chapter five: Chrysanthemum's first job.

Master Bob waited patiently as Chrys scanned the request board. He was right, it was varied.

She eventually tore off a small request for cleaning.

"Bob, would I be aloud to do this one?" Chrys inquired.

"Ofcourse! I'll just contact the ones that requested it!" Bob cheered as he skipped away.

From behind, Chrys heard a chuckle, then a giggle, then a full on laugh. She turned around to see Fudo looking at the paper she was holding.

"What are you laughing at? Jerk!" She snapped.

"The job your doing. It's pointless. It's not even giving you enough money for a months rent. Only the loosers take those jobs - Oh, wait, in that case it's perfect."

Chrys glanced at the paper he was holding in his hand. "Why you- Let's see what _your _job is!"

"Fine, take a look."

Inscripted on the request was;

_Please help! The house I've recently moved into is haunted. I have no idea what's causing it, butI'm sure i'll need a strongwizard to acomplish such a task._

_Address: ..._

_Name: ..._

Chrys was shocked. She was also shocked at the pay. 4000J.

"Pfffft. Like i'd want to take a job like that."  
"And you'd rather take _your _job?" Fudo jeered. "Here's an idea. Why don't you come on this job with me and earn half the money? or less depending on how good you are. You'll only be able to take jobs like this if an S-Class wizard such as myself comes with you."

Just then, Bob came trotting along.

"I'm sorry, Chrys, but the job you chose has expired. But better luck next time! I'm sure you'll find the perfect job!"

"It's cool, Bob, she's coming on a job with me."

"Hold on, since when did I agree too that?" Chrys exclamed.

"Fudo-san, honey, I don't know if it's a good idea for Chrys here to be going on S-class jobs at the stage she's at right now... I mean, it's her first job."

"I'm with her. I'll protect her, she'll be fine." Fudo switched to a more serious tone. It felt to Chrys as if he really wanted her to come with him. She decided to give it a shot, even if he was being a complete idiot.

"I'll go, Bob, If I don't come back in one piece it'll be my own fault." She stated.

"Oh my, such determination. I guess I'll have to let you go now." Bob giggled as he once again placed his hand over his mouth.

Chrys and Fudo started thier walk.

"Well, here we go. Would you prefer to take the four-wheeler or the train?" Fudo asked.

"Four-wheeler!" She quickly replied. Avoiding another train journey was crucial for her health at the moment. Not to mention avoiding another dose of humiliation. Round the back of the guild were 20 high-tech magic four-wheelers. Chrys gaped in awe as the long line of dazzling vehicles stared back at her, thier shinning coats gleamed in the light. Fudo didn't hesitate and climbed abourd a lusterous red one.

"Hurry up then!" He shouted, impatiently.

"Well, excuse me for never seeing this much technology in one place. Who made all these?"

"Hibiki. A guild member. He's away on a job with his annoying team at the moment. Now hop in already!" Shouted Fudo In frustration.

"A guild member made all of those? And I'm coming!" Chrys replied viciously as she sauntered in Fudo's direction. She then sat in the passenger seat as Fudo clipped the SE plug onto his wrist.

"Here we go!" Fudo shouted, accelerating.

He started the vehicle slowly and then picked up the pace. Eventually, he ended up going at atleast 100mph.

"Fudo! What are you doing?" Chrys screamed as Fudo doged yet another tree. "Do you have a death wish?"

"Loosen up, Chrys. It'll get us there alot quicker than the train." He managed to say calmly.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" She shrieked. The bumpy road sent her flying at all angles. Somehow, Fudo remained still. She began to wish they's took the train instead.

After another 30 minutes of madness, they finnaly arrived at the old, worn-down house. The massive building had a steryotypical haunted hause architecture and was dark purple in colour. Poison Ivy crept up the brick walls and the fact that it was night time gave the 'Scary' look a massive boost. Fudo fearlesly strolled up to the main entrance with a terrified Chrysanthemum lagging behind. BANG! BANG! sounded the skull-shaped door-knocker as Fudo slammed it against it's resting position. Chrys yelped as footsteps could be heard. The door Then opened with a high-pitched creak. Stood in the entrance was a middle-aged woman with mid-length ginger hair and brown eyes.

"Greetings!" She seemed relived that she had finanly recieved help for her problem.

"Hey. I'm Fudo and this is Chrys. We were wondering what kind of things were going on that makes you think it's haunted."

"Come in!" The woman beckoned "I'm Amber, nice to meet you! Here's my story." Amber sat them down in a red leather chair. "Me and my husband, Gary, have recently had a baby boy so we needed to move into a bigger alotment. We have 5 other children so we thought this house would be nice and spacious and have room for them to play. We've stayed here for a week now and noticed strange occurances. You see, the other day I was unpacking and..."

**Past P.O.V**

"Mummy, have you unpacked my toothbrush?"  
"Not quite. You'll have to wait a bit longer." Amber replied.

"Okay. Can I go play with saphire?"

"Ofcourse, honey."

The child ran off to play as Amber was left unpacking the diningroom cutlery. From the corner of her eye she saw a glimmer of blue light. She turned round to see what it was and nothing was there.

"It must have been my imagination" She said out loud at she focused on her duty. Her ginger hair fell over her face as she was unpacking a pesky knife. All of a suden she felt her mind slip away from her. Amber gripped the knife in her hand and stood up. She couldn't control herself. It was as if she was watching through her own eyes but couldn't contact her brain. Her possesed self's head slowly cocked to one side and started pacing to the door of the basement.

"Honey?" Gary, her husband, walked through.

Amber imediatley snnaped out of it and replied.

"Yes, dear?"

"Um, it doesn't matter, it was in my pocket. Why are you holding that knife?"

Amber didn't want to scare him so she quickly replied "Oh, this? I was taking it to be washed, It's really greasy."

**Preasent P.O.V**

"Normally, I wouldn't jump to conclusions like this, but it wasn't just me this was happening to. Please, I'm getting scared, what if one of us can't stop ourselves?" Amber said with tear-filled eyes.

"We'll do our best." Fudo promised in his serious tone.


	6. Chrysanthemum's first job part 2

Chapter Six: Chrysanthemum's first job Part ||

"Thank you. I'm so very grateful for your help." Amber thanked.

"First, we need to scan the whole house for any clues. Chrys, we're going to need to split up." Fudo ordered.

"Right." The celestial mage replied. She then left the room that they were sitting in and made for a small corridor. Fudo went the opposite way.

Fudo headed left into a small room. It appeared to have been used as a storage room at one point. The dark red paint coated almost every wall in every room of the house. He definately felt the presence of something magical, but even with his astounding senses, he couldn't work out what it was. All he could make out were some small indents in the walls. But other than that, it was just an empty room. He tried searching in other places. The same magical presence was there, but everything was still empty. The family had just moved in. There can't be any magic item of some sort enchanting the place if they haven't even unpacked yet.  
"Think, Fudo..." He almost said aloud. There's obviously some sort of explanation for this.

Chrys headed right, into the kitchen. Most of their stuff had been unpacked by now so the room was fairly full. Knifes hung up on the walls and on the floor sat checkered floor tiles much like the ones back at the guild. She couldn't really feel anything. It was just an ordinary room to her. First, she checked the draws. All there was was cutlery. Knifes, forks, Spoons and sporks. Then the cupboards. Plates, dishes, and glasses. Chrys was scared. That's probably the reason to why she didn't notice a blue light shimmer in the corner of her eye. It was then she noticed a perculiar box. As she started hobbling towards it, she felt slightly dizzy. her head automatically tilted to one side and she felt tired. She could feel her mind slip away from her.

Fudo was on his fourth room now. All he could find was a magical prescence. All he needed to do was find some sort of object. Nothing. There's some sort of possesion spell going on and he needed to find the cause. Steps could be heard from the other room.

"Ah, ha! It must be over there somewhere!" Fudo felt somewhat triumphant and followed them. It lead him along a corridor and right. It was coming from out of the kitchen. He then took another sniff... He recognised that smell from somewhere... Chrys!

"Damn. I thought I was onto something for a while... Hey, Chrys, found anythi... Are you okay?"

Her brown eyes darkened and lost all shine. She stared right through him.

"I'm... Fine." She murmered as she drew a large kitchen knife from behind her. "I'm gonn'a have to fight you now... I hope I can kill you... If I don't I'll be sad..." She said, speaking it all in one tone. Obviously there was something wrong. If he remembered correctly, Amber snapped out of it. If her could just do the same thing to Chrys... Before there was any time for him to think it through in more depth, the possesed Chrys lunged towards him, the knife outstretched in her arm. Fudo doged, but it was close.

Chrys didn't know what she was doing. She lost control over herself. Her possesor lunged again, this time just missing his left arm.

"Chrys, I know you're in there!" Fudo shouted. "Beat it. It's taking over you, overpower it's mind. We should then be able to beat it in it's true form together!"

"Shut up. I'm going to kill you, then the residents, then this girl. She has the opportunity to die last. Go on. Attack me, I like it when my prey struggle." Her possesor laughed in a deep voice. Chrys could tell Fudo didn't want to hurt her.

"Fine. Kill me. But first, tell me who you are. Why do you want to kill us?"

"I am one of 4. I am a demon of Lord Zeref's. I am the house. I've told you too much. Time to die." Chrys' possesor started to levitate. Grasping the knife in her hand tighter.

It was an empty room. The walls covered in thick red paint and floor tiles much like the ones back at the guild. Fudo started to wish he hadn't taken Chrys on this job. He was scared that if he attacked, he would hurt her. Her eyes were full of bloodlust. Chrysanthemum Lilica would be an empty shell if he didn't do something. He needed to attack. Slowly, he lifted his head.

"I've not known you for that long Chrys, but I feel like it's my duty to get you out of that state. And to do that, I must attack you. Forgive me... Roar of the cosmic dragon!" Fudo's cheeks puffed out as he lifted his hands to his face in a sort of tube shape. A pink blast of power shot from his mouth. It looked like a pink, swirling sunset.

Chrys' inner self yelped as she could see the large amount of magic power shooting towards her. She struggled but she couldn't move. She shouted but it couldn't be heard. She'd had enough.

"GET OUT OF MY BODY!" She screamed. She looked down at her hands to reveal the dark aura that had enveloped her escaping, just as she ordered. She was almost relived enough to forget she was in mid-air.

"Crap." she said as she looked down. She felt herself falling, she could feel her possesor laughing from infront of her. But one thing she didn't expect to feel were the arms of a dragon slayer wrap around her body and cusion her landing.

"F..Fudo?" Chrys looked up, and when she regognised him as her new found friend, "Thanks..."

"You're welcome. You're really heavy you know." Trust Fudo to ruin the moment. Chrys sighed as he chuckled. "He's finnaly revealed his true form. We can attack him together now."

"You think this is my true form? You fools... You want to see my true form? Here it is." Zeref's demon stated. The demon was a black blob. They couldn't really make out what shape it was or whether or not it had a face. The blob started straining. The straining soon turned into roars of pain. The roars of pain turned into the house quaking.

"Evacuate!" Fudo yelled, concerned for the resident's safety. Amber ran into the room, wondering what was happening. She screamed when she saw the demon.

"Get you and your family out!" he shouted again. The quaking became more vigorous when they all managed to escape the house. Amber's 6 children started to cry.

"What's happening to our new house?" They wailed, still half asleep.

"Something not nice. But it's okay, we can always move into a new one. Anyway, the wizards are fixing this one for us. In the meantime, I think we should get out of here while they do. I don't want to get in their way." Gary, Amber's husband answered. The family rushed across the freshly trimmed grass in thier pajamas and boarded thier four-wheeler that was parked near Fudo's.

The house started to move position. It's purple arcitecture changed. More roars of pain could be heard coming from the core as bricks turned to legs, roofs turned into shoulders, and walls turned to arms. Soon enough, a large figure was opposing them.

"ROOOOOAR! I haven't been in this form for 400 years! All these years, I have been trapping people in my dormant figure, possesing them and killing them. But this son of a bin had to report me to a high-ranked wizards guild!" The demon screached.

"Chrys. I'm sorry for taking you on this job with me. But we really need to beat this thing." Fudo sounded concerned.

"I really don't care. I've enjoyed this expirience so far. Let's go!" She confidently replied while grasping the key around her neck and one of the keys attached to her belt. "Open, gates of the chained princess and gate of the shield, Andromeda and Scutum!" Two magic circles appeared before her as two female spirits gracefully stepped out from each of them.

Scutum was a heavily armoured spirit with black hair tied into two buns. She possesed a large shield and determination filled her purple eyes. Andromeda leaped along-side her, stood in battle stance.

"Wing slash of the cosmic dragon!" Fudo shouted as he jumped up close to the giant house demon. A pink aura enveloped his arms and took the shape of wings.

"So he's a dragon slayer... I've only ever heard of such things..." Chrys stated in awe as she watched said dragon slayer hit the demon across the left shoulder. The roof tiling it used as a guard snapped in half. Fudo landed triumphantly next to Chrys.

"Your turn!" He ordered.

"Right, Andromeda, tie a chain around the demon's ankles to prevent it from moving, then attack it directly! Scutum, go with her to protect her from any hits!" She commanded. The spirits did as they were told. The flexible chain tightened itself around the monster as Andromeda and Scutum grasped eachother's arms, then each using their right legs, jumped up onto the demon's shoulder and struck. They didn't quite manage to break the intricate tiling in half, but severed it slightly.

"Chrys, get your spirits out of the way, I'm going to finish this in one shot." Fudo panted.

"Forced closure!" Chrys followed out her orders, wondering what Fudo was about to do. Her spirits faded away, returning to the celestial world.

"Stand back." He sternly told her. Once again, she did what she was told, still excited for the outcome. Her feet scraped across the stubbly grass and waited.

"When two planets align, I draw power," His body began to shine brilliant colours, it was as if fireworks had been set off inside his heart, "Ancient dragon slayer art, Gas Giant, Jupiter!" he chanted. A beam of power darted visciously from the night sky and encircled his muscular body. The dragon of space was close to full strength. His blue eyes turned a harsh yellow, and his wide pupils turned to nothing more than a streak of black. His blonde hair that tufted up on one side turned a hot pink and his hands turned to talons. Small scale-shaped marks could be seen all over his skin. Fudo Fubara lifted up his sharp claws and formed a small orange bubble. Chrys watched in utter amazment as the bubble grew larger and larger until it reached no bigger than that of the terrified house demon. She had never before seen this sort of strength. Even her older sister's magic couldn't compare. Zeref's demon had enough of being intimidated. It formed a beam of darkness near it's bedroom window and fired. At the same time, Fudo sent the massive ball of poison gas hurtling towards it. The two power sources collided, resulting in Fudo's spell devouring the darkness and crashing, causing the house to smash into tiny fragments of wood.

The resident's possesions' flew everywhere. From clothes to furniture, they all landed on the grass, damaged. China and ornaments were smashed in the ruble and debris of what was once a magnificent-looking house. The only thing that stayed intact was a perculiar looking box. Upon recognising it, Chrys moved from her open-mouthed position and ran toward it, picking it up. It resembled that of an old, red jewelery box. Delecate designs covered it's exterior.

"So... We defeated it. Didn't I look cool?" Fudo asked, jokingly as he limped over upon using so much power. He turned back into his original form.

"I suppose you were okay. It was a bit over the top though, I'm sure that lump of wood would've went down with a much easier hit." The celestial mage replied, trying to hide the fact that she was flabergasted. She did a good job, seeing as Fudo looked slightly disappointed when she replied. As soon as they finished talking, the box opened with a start. The demon that once possesed the house revealed it's damaged self and used the box as a vaccum to suck what was left of it inside. The box then closed tightly, never to be opened again.

"What is this thing?" Fudo and Chrys asked in unison. They turned to face eachother and let out a small smile when they realized they said it at the same time.

"We'd better take this box to Master Bob. On the contrary, what are we going to do about this mess?" Fudo enquired.

"Well, we're getting paid to do the job, so we may aswell clean it up." Chrys replied.

"This is going to take hours!" Fudo exasporatedly sighed.

"Well, if you hadn't used that massive attack, then there wouldn't have been this mess, would there?"

"If it wasn't for me, we'd still be fighting that thing!"

"Not if you'd used a smaller attack!"

"You're so ungreatful!"  
"You're so big-headed!"

Just then, the magic council's boar-pulled karts interupted their argument and slammed to a stop near what used to be the entrance of the mansion. Officials leaped out and ran toward the mages. Chrys just managed to hide the box in her bag when the leader of the council, along with the tired family strolled up to them.

"Greetings, Blue Pegasus members. I am the chairman of the magic council, could you please give me a brief description of the recent events?"

"The family claimed that the house they'd moved into was haunted, so we came to investigate. It turned out that the demon of the house has been possesing and killing unknown families that had moved in to it for the past 400 years. We managed to defeat the demon and retrieve few of the household belongings." Fudo carelessely informed.

"We will clean up this mess for you while you make your way back to your guild. It's extremely late. Don't think you've got rid of us though, we will be having words with your guild master to decide on what to do with all the broken possesions."

"Okay. Thanks." Fudo tiredly said.

"Thank you very much!" Chrysanthemum bowed. Just then, Amber exhaustedly hobbled over to them.

"Please accept these jewels. You have no idea how greatful me and my family are to you." She said as she held out the cash reward. Fudo reached out and gently took it.

"Thank you, Amber. We're always happy to help!"

They said their goodbyes to the family and walked up to were they'd parked the four-wheeler to realize that Fudo's massive attack had smashed it to pieces. Chrys and Fudo stood wide-eyed at the severe damage that had been caused, and at the thought of Hibiki's reaction.


	7. A proposition

**Hey guys. Sorry for my absence, i'm currently internet-less and using my neighbour's (that doesn't have an exclamation mark and I'm too scared to ask because of my social awkuardness) Tell me what you think of Fudo's power and the new character in the reviews -exclamation mark- hope you enjoy -exclamation mark- **

Chapter seven: A Proposition.

The rage that Chrys felt built up in her body like a bad game of tetris.

"You absolute IDIOT!" She vociferated. "First, out guild has to pay for all the damage that _you _just caused, and now we have to pay for a new magic four-wheeler!"

"It's not _my _fault there was a giant house demon that needed a do-in!" the cosmic dragon slayer sulcked. "Besides, what's done is done. What matters now is getting this past Hibiki."

"Yeah. And I'm not going to help you on that one, it's your fault. Take the blame." The celestial mage argued.

"Hold on, I'm going to test it and see if it still works." Fudo leaped into the driver's seat and clipped in the SE plug around his wrist.

"Idiot..." She muttered under her breath. The engine coughed into life, and to Chrys's surprise, started moving. She sighed gently, knowing that with the little power left, Fudo couldn't drive as fast as before without passing out.

"Fine. I'll get in, It's getting really late and we haven't eaten so we'll have to move fairly quickly. Are you sure you don't want me to drive? I've barely used up any magic."

"No. I'll be fine." Fudo slurred tiredly as they drove away.

It was 4:00am when Chrys and Fudo finnally made it back to the guild. The four-wheeler screeched to a halt next to it's pristine brothers and the two mages nearly collapsed out.

"Night, Fudo..." Chrys mumbled as she traipsed away to her dormetary.

"Hey, Chrys. It was nice working with you tonight." Fudo Said. Chrys let out a small smile and continued walking.

The next morning, Chrys slowly opened her soft eyes to reveal her room. It was looking as grand as ever. It comforted her even more to remember that she had enough money to pay rent for the next 3 months. Last night's events came flooding back to her as she dressed herself in a pair of dark denim dungarees and freshened up for breakfast. Her breif moment of bliss was soon interupted by a timid knock on the door.

"Hello?" Chrys answered as the round shape of Master Bob came into view.

"Hello, Darling! Coming for breakfast?" He sang.

"Erm... Okay. I was just getting ready when you came, but..."

"Perfect timing then! Come on!" Without further audo, Bob grabbed her small hand and dragged her down to the main hall and sat her down on a bar stool. A slim boy with dark hair took her order for breakfast and she was soon tucking in to a large bowl of cereal.

"The family that you and Fudo helped out have requested that we don't pay them anything. Unfortunately for you, my oppinion is different. _I _request that you and Fudo work together to pay the family half the money for the house and pay Hibiki for the damage that you both caused to his four-wheeler. Yes, Hibiki and his team are back from their job and caught Fudo trying to cover up the damage outside. They are now informing him of your new formed team through in the other room." Bob informed.

"I-I'm really sorry..." Chrys was over-run by guilt. It was her _first _job and she'd already managed to stir something up. She could hear shouting coming from the other room. It didn't take a genius to work out what was going on.

"Don't feel down. You could use teaming up with Fudo to your advantage! Plus, it wasn't really your fault. You'd never been on a job before so you didn't know what to do."

"Okay. Thanks, Bob." Chrys replied. She sauntered off to her room solemly, but first she thought it'd be funny to check on Fudo to see him being told off. Slyly, the green-haired mage walked across the guild hall and peered round the corner.

"You selfish, inconsiderate bastard! What made you think that you could drive my four-wheeler at 100mph, park it, then use the gas giant Jupiter spell near it?" The blonde-haired mage that she guessed was Hibiki yelled at an indifferent Fudo.

"I needed to get to the job quickly, I needed to park near the house and the demon we were fighting wasn't going down easily. There. What else do you want from me?"

Suddenly, a girl that looked about 20 years old ran up behind Fudo and hugged him. "Aw, Hibiki! Don't be so mean to Fudo! It was all just a misunderstanding!"

"Stay out of it, Nova. Fudo, apologize." Hibiki scolded.

"Sorry. Can I leave now?" Fudo obviously didn't get much sleep. Chrys's eyes narrowed, who is this 'Nova'? She then realized how stupid she must look standing staring into another room, so she trailed off to _her_ room to wait until the argument had finished.

About 15 minuted later, another knock on the door could be heard.

"Hi, Fudo." Chrys said without even looking to see who it was.

"Hey, Chrys. I guess we're stuck together until we come up with the money. Sorry about that, I should've forced Nova to come with me instead of askng you to come instead."

"Hold on... So your girlfriend didn't want to come on a job with you so you used me as a substitute?" The suddenly enraged Chrys replied.

"No, well, I thought we could go together because you had that crappy cleaning job! And she isn't my girlfriend! Once again, so ungreatful! You really need to learn to be thankful, you know."

"I am greatful! I'm greatful to people that acctually do nice things for me! Not people that use me as a second option!" Chrys slammed the door in his face unforgivingly. Why do all their conversations end in an argument?

"Chrys! Open the door! Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Fudo's muffled voice sounded through the wooden door. The celestial mage decided to stay angry at him for a little longer. She stayed in her room and sulcked.

Another 15 minutes had passed when Fudo knocked again.

"Chrys... Can you please open the door so I can appologize properly?" The door creaked open, and in it's place stood Chrys.

"Hey..." She said.

"Are you okay? You look like you've been crying." Fudo asked, concerned.

"I haven't been crying. Why do you think I would cry over something so stupid as that?"

"No reason. Your eyes just looked blood-shot, that's all. I'm really sorry for doing that to you. It wasn't fair. Do you think you can put up with me and Nova for another few jobs while we collect enough money to pay back for the damage?"

"I haven't even spoke to Nova, but I guess I can put up with you." Chrys smiled. Fudo sent her one back in return.

"Well, then. I guess I'd better introduce the two of you." He then said, beckoning her downstairs. This was the first time that Chrys was going down the stairs without being dragged by Bob, so she could now appreciate the surroundings a bit more. The staircase spiraled down lower and lower until it reached the main hall, where an intimidating Nova sat on a bar stool.

Her Red-Brown, mid-length hair whipped behind her as she stood up to reveal a perfect figure enclosed in a short, tight, black, sleevless dress. She had long 'Wendy Marvel' fringe.

"Hey there, little girl! I'm Nova, your new team mate!" She said in a girly voice.

"I'm seventeen. The same age as Fudo. Nice to meet you, I'm Chrysanthemum." Chrys replied sternly. Nova looked surprised to hear she was seventeen and quickly moved off topic.

"Oh, sorry to sound patronising... But you look young for your age. Anyway, we have some information back from Master Bob about the box you and Fudo found. It turns out the legal and dark guilds everywhere have been looking for atleast one of the four for centuries, and each time someone tried to find one, they vanished. They're an exremely difficult opponent to beat. But I know my little Fudo is strong enough to beat anything!" Nove giggled as she edged closer to him. She could vaguly see Chrys go red in the face and narrow her eyes. Chrys new that she wasn't going to like her.

"Where's the other three then?" The celestial mage said, magaging to keep composed.

"That, we're not sure of. But we're going to find out. If we don't, innocent people's lives could be at stake." Fudo replied, ignoring the passionate looks he was getting off Nova.

"I don't know much about these Demons, but I suggest we all go after them, while still collecting the money to pay back the damage. What do you say?"

"Yeah!" Nova cheered.

"Okay." Chrys sighed, wondering how much longer it would take for her to snap and hit Nova in the face with a shovel.

"Good. We'll start looking tommorow. I'll spend today consulting with master and information hunting." Fudo added.


	8. The mission starts

Chapter eight: The mission starts.

The next day, Chrys awoke to a sharp knock on the door.

"H-Hello?" she asked to an already made-up Nova.

"Seriously, you've not even woke up yet?" She asked in frustration as she invited herself in, "Nice room. It used to be Karen's so no wonder she did it up." She complemented, but still with a hint of attitude, "Fudo wants us to meet him down in the main hall _now _so I suggest you hurry up if you want to get changed." And with that, she slammed the door in her face. The celestial mage ran across her dormitary in a panic and got changed. Her usual outfit of a black halter-neck belly-top and tan baggy trousers were snatched from out of the wardrobe and her green locks were pinned back into place.

After her transformation she scurried downstairs to meet Nova and Fudo in the main hall.

"Finnaly! You took so long to get up! We, well Fudo, has some information!" She shouted up at the small shape-less figure that was coming downstairs.

"Well, I'm sorry!" She shouted back sarcastically, "I don't usually get up at 7:30am!"

"I woke you up half an hour ago, it shouldn't take that long for someone like you to get ready!"

"What makes you say that?"

Before Nova could say her next comment, which he was sure would be a nasty one, Fudo cut in, "Be quiet, you two! Listen, I have some information!" The two fell silent. The green-haired mage strode across the hall and stood next to Fudo.

"It turns out there are infact four of them. Dark guilds have been after them for power, so far none of them have prevailed successful. Some have even vanished. It was the dark mage Zeref that created them and to seal them away, we must find the magic box that sucks away their existance. That part was easy with the first one, because it was inside a building, next time we might not be so lucky. We had an advantage also because Jupiter and Mars aligned. As a dragon slayer, that's how I draw power, this is also the reason to why we need another team member - Nova - to help us."

"Where are we goint to start?" Chrys asked in disbelif.

"This is going to be random because barely anyone knows of their existance, but we're going to scour Fiore's dark guilds and ask."

"That's crazy! If you think I'm coming with you..."

"I knew you were going to say that. But if we even have a hope of finding _one _of them, that's what we must do."

"Why do we have to take on this specific job when we can always do other things to get the money?"  
"This job will give us enough money to pay back the damage and more. The master has 'Okayed' it. Plus, _someone_ needs to defeat them and I know i'm strong enough." He said with a toothy grin.

"Which guild are we starting with?" Nova curiously questioned.

"This is obviously going to end up in a fight! And I don't know about you, But I can't single-handedly defeat an entire guild!" the celestial mage argued.

"It's not just going to be you, idiot. Fudo's far stronger than you think."

Chrys's face grew red with fury as she saw Nova prance around girlishly.

"There's one problem though... Transportation. I'm banned from using the four-wheelers." Fudo blissfully ignored the two girls causing a scene behind him. Chrys and Nova stood, glaring into eachother's cold eyes.

"I have a mode of transportation!" Chrys forgot why they needed it and only said it to get ahead of the girl standing opposite.

"What might that be?" She asked.

"My spirit, Apus. We could use her to fly."

"Great! How many people can you fit on her back?" Fudo cut in.

"About four."

"Have you flew on her before?"  
"Once, she's really safe."

"We'll have to trust you, then." Fudo said as Chrys gave Nova a smug look.

"Fudo! I'm scared of heights!" Nova cried out, playing the damsel in distress.

"It's okay, you can sit behind me." he smiled back at her.

"Yay!" She giggled, hugging him.

"Are you sure this is going to be safe? 'Cause if this all goes wrong, I'm blaming you!" Chrys warned.

"I'm sure." He assured.

"I guess we'd better report to master Bob." Fudo stated, with the red-brown haired mage still latched on to him.

The three mages walked up the stairs and along to the boys' dorms. Along the massive corridor they walked, until they reached tall pink double doors with pegasus wings as handles. Nova tapped gently on the polished wood.

"Hey, there!" The doors flung open to reveal a chubby figure standing in their places, "You're late reporting! I could've done my beauty routine fifteen minutes later if I'd known, you cheeky little sausages!" Nova glared at Chrys who was looking at Fudo who was giving Bob an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, master." They chorosed.

"It's okay! I take it you're about to go. Have you worked out transportation yet? Also, I'd like you all to wait here a little longer for the Grand magic tournement announcements. Fairy Tail has back from Tenrou Island, so it's going to be an interesting turn of events if they manage to get through the preliminaries."

"Yeah, we're flying on Chrys's spirit. I was talking to team Natsu on the train here." Fudo replied, putting emphasis on the word 'train'.

"I sent Hibiki and the others to welcome them back, That's why they were gone for so long. Make sure Chrys is _prepared _to meet them. They'll be down to hear the announcements. After that, slip away round the back. Don't tell anyone about the mission and be careful! That's all. See you soon, My little Dango dumplings!" Bob just managed to grab hold of Fudo's cheek and jiggle it around before the double doors shut. His face dropped dramatically.

"I was supposed to be elected to go into the grand magic tournament! I can't now because of the money! Darn!" He raised his voice as he clutched his redened cheek.

"What does he mean by 'prepared' to meet Hibiki's team?"  
"They can be a bit overwhelming sometimes... Let's just leave it at that. I need to pop back to my dorm and get a few things first. Come with me." Nova said, completely skimming over the subject.

Chrys forgot about it after a few seconds anyway.

"Nova, what magic do you use?" She questioned as the three walked back along the corridor.

"Men!" a voice seemed to echo around everywhere. Chrys looked around nervously to find the source. She then revealed that it was coming from a small dumpy figure, exiting his dorm with his team mates. She only recognised one of them as Hibiki. They turned round to see Chrys and Nova, The dumpy figure at the front elegantly sprang up, twirling in mid-air until he landed perfectly infront of the celestial mage.

"I see we have a new member..." He said as sparkles ran through his long ginger hair. He was wearing a white suit and possesed an extremely large nose and jaw bones, "My name is Ichiya!" He said dramatically as he striked another pose. The targeted mage got more and more horrified as he leant forward and smelled her.

"What lovely parfum! It smells like... Karen Lilica's!"

"Wh-hat a-are y-you d-doing? And y-yes, I'm h-her s-sister..." She whimpered, looking over to Nova and realising she wasn't the only one.

"Hey there, gorgeous." Hibiki leant in closer and closer until he was only a few centemetres away.

"Hey, Hibiki!" She said girlishly back. Chrys couldn't help but wonder why a) She was stuck with the fat, ugly, creepy one and Nova had an extremely good looking guy. And b) Was Nova enjoying this?

"Excuse me, Nova, but I'm going to introduce myself to this other girl here." Hibiki then said. Fudo however was just left in between, being completely ignored.

"Okay! I'll speak to Ren and Eve while you do!" She skipped away to the other two team members who started giving her the same treatment. Chrys felt her face heating up as Hibiki stood infront of Ichiya and started talking to her.

"Hey there, my name is Hibiki Laytis. What's yours?" He asked.

"C-C-Chrysanthemum..." She said back nervously. Hibiki turned round to see Ichiya trot up to Nova.

"My Honey..." He said to her as he tried to lean in closer. Before her could even try, Nova shouted,

"Requip! Machine gun!" A dazzling light enveloped her hands as a gun materialized slowly. Ichiya just had time to widen his eyes before bullets came shooting in his direction non-stop.

"ME-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-EN!" He shouted as he was sent flying down the corridor.

"That's my que to leave, princess." Hibiki turned back round to Chrys, who's face was like a tomato. He lifted her hand up and kissed it gently before running along to catch up to his team members.

"We're coming Ichiya-sensei!" The three of them called.

"They really are something." Fudo stated as they continued walking.

"Did that answer your question about what magic I use?" Nova triumphantly asked.

"Yeah." Chrys replied, in slight admiration.

Soon enough they reached Nova's dormatery. The door was the same as Chrys's, but didn't look as new. When the door opened, however, it looked completely different. Loads of different types of gun hung from the walls and ceiling, the wallpaper and flooring were the same, just a bit darker.

"Are all these guns really necissary?" Chrys questioned, amazed that she had the room to fit a glamorous double bed in the corner.

"Requip magic is basically teleportation, so the more weapons you have stored in a certain place, the more flexible your magic is." She replied, attaching a belt made of spare bullets to her short dress and making a bag of things to take on the long journey.

"I'm ready. Let's get down to the hall."

Chrys had never seen the hall so full. It was crowded with mages and guests. The Grand Magic Tournement must be a big thing to them. The three managed to squeeze themselves into a space in the corner. They were literally just in time for the announcements as the guild master skipped over infront of them.

"Hey there, guys and girls! Sorry to keep you waiting! As you all know, the magic tournement is coming up soon. It determines the strongest guild in Fiore, our target this year is to be the best! Although we have some tough competition from guilds such as Sabertooth and Mermaid heel, we can still pull through! Also, as most of you know, Fairy Tail have came back from their seven year abscence at Tenroujuma Island, as much as we need to give them a warm welcome back, they are our main competition this year. Some of our members know of their great power and team work from working with them to defeat Oracion Seis, so I will be electing them this year. Congratulations, Hibiki, Ren, Eve and Ichiya! Now the fourth member is going to be our secret weapon, I'm afraid only S-Class wizards know of it's name and power, so I'll leave it 'till it's appearence in battle to explain it. And the substitute - just incase of severe injuries, will be Jenny Relight! I will be looking forward to seeing you all at the games. From now, until 3 months, I expect the nominated contestants to be training as hard as possible. See you later!"

The crowd of people cheered loudly. The only person that wasn't extatic was the dragon slayer, still disappointed about his disqualification from the tournement this year.

"Let's go." He sulcked as the three mages sneaked around the back.

"Okay, Chrys, summon Apus." Nova ordered.

Chrys stood in the centre of the patch looking out onto the forest. She grasped her set of keys from her belt and outstretched her arm, clutching onto a winged, silver, key.

"Gate of the bird of paradise, I open thee, Apus!" She chanted as she twosted her wrist. A gleaming magic circle appeared before her. A beautiful, white bird flew out from another world and spread it's wings in the open air. It's feathers shimmered like rainbows as the light from the sun hit off them. It's head was that of a dove, but a feather crown of many colours was attached to the top of it's head, symbolizing it's magesty. After it had demonstrated it's flying tequnique, it landed gently infront of it's master, cooing softly. Fudo and Nova looked up in admiration.

"Let's get on board!" Fudo cried.


	9. Undead Screams

Chapter Nine: Undead Screams.

Chrys was the first. She slowly clambered up on top of Apus's back and sat comfortably at the front. To ensure her balance, she grasped onto a small clump of soft feathers. Fudo was next, he leaped up onto the bird in one shot, shooting a puff of magic from his foot to assist him.

"Show off." Chrys glared at the grinning dragon slayer, who was sitting comfortably behind her.

"F-Fudo... I'm scared!" Nova cried, trembling.

"Come on! Just climb to the top, then you can sit behind me!" He leaned over and replied.

To Nova, the height of the climb increased tenfold as she was slowly but surely ascending up the heavenly bird. Fudo reached out his hand and pulled her up the last two steps before she was tightly clutching on to his body, shaking and whimpering.

"Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah." Fudo answered for himself and for the speechless Gun requip mage.

"Fly, Apus!" She commanded. The Spirit spread out it's wings and flapped continously, it's body rocked back and forward making the mages feel slightly nervous (especially Nova) and tighten their grip on whatever was giving them balance. Eventually, Apus was in mid air, soaring a few metres above tree height. First, she would glide, then after seconds, she would flap her wings for more altitude. Fudo and Chrys got used to it soon enough.

Chrys looked forward. She sat, letting the soft wind caress her face and run through her green hair.

"Chrys, your hair's blowing in my face!" Fudo complained.

"Deal with it." She replied, not letting anyone ruin her moment of bliss. She then looked down at the forest that they were rapidly passing over. This is where she first met Fudo. She remembered their first argument and how embarrased she was when she first got off the train after she first saw him. A large smile automatically coated her face.

"Chrys, seriously! I have a green hair in my mouth!" Fudo enforced.

"Fine, I'll sweep it over my shoulder, but that's all I can do!" she spoke in a considerably calmer voice than her first reaction.

"You seem happier all of a sudden. It's not that long 'til we get to the first dark guild."

"Okay. Tell me when we're there so I know where to land. Who is the first dark guild?"

"They're apart of the Baram Alliance, Tartaros' branch. Their name is Undead Screams. The plan is to go in and negotiate nicely with the guild master. If they lie or get aggressive, I need you and Nova to back me up."

"How will you know if they're lying?"

"I can sense when people are lying. It's part of being a dragon slayer." he winked.

For once, Nova was being silent. The only noise coming from her was her teeth chattering. This made the whole expierience better.

"So... Where is it exactly?"

"We need to pass this small town. After that, we'll reach a large valley. We land within that valley and the Undead Screams Guild should be close."

"Okay, looks like that's it over there in the distance... Am I right?"

"Yeah. That's it. Word of warning before we enter. The valley has had a curse on it for about a decade. The only person that knows how to get in and out is the guild master, there'll be a lot of people down there trying to sell us things. We'll just have to ignore them so they don't keep bothering us. Fortunately, we won't be affected by the curse since only the residents of that time had it cast upon them and their future generations. However, the guild master has the power to surpass this spell and has the ability to teleport in and out for food and water."

"What makes you think people like them will know about the demons?"

"The reason to why they were cursed is because of their ability to navigate and hunt. They were scared that the Undead Screams guild were going to find the demons first. I have a feeling that they know were atleast one of them is."

In a matter of minutes, Apus passed over the start of the valley.

"Land!" Chrys commanded. Slowly, the bird of paradise descended lower and lower until it reached land. The untrimmed grass sunk in between it's talons as it spread out it's weight. It then spread out it's wing to act as a platform for the three mages to walk down. One by one, they did what was being signaled to them.

"Thank you, Apus." The celestial mage bowed slightly as the bird teleported back to the celestial world.

"Thank goodness!" Nova cried, "Fudo, I was so scared! Thank you so much for letting me hold on to you for the whole journey! I never want to go on that thing again!"

"You're welcome, Nova. But we're going to have to unless you want to stay in this dump." Fudo replied, looking over the un-looked after landscape, "If I remember corectly, the guild is in the town centre. I can see the town from here, it's not a short distance away." He started striding over to the small, eerie town, that looked as if someone had glued it on to the rough, grassy ladscape that was inside the valley.

"So, Fudo, what's the guild's secret weapon that looks like a big rabbit? You're an S-Class so you should know, shouldn't you?" Chrys questioned, curiously.

"That, I can't tell you. But it's strong." He replied.

"Yeah... The key word in there was 'Secret'." Nova said, walking infront of them both.

"Shut up, Nova. It's not as if you know either. By the way, are all the members of Blue pegasus like Ichiya's team?"

"Not really, but quite alot of them are. Well, all the boys are, apart from me." Fudo answered.

"Hmm... Okay." Chrys replied, half paying attention to the figure that was drawing closer and closer.

"Hey! You! I have weapons for sale!" The man shouted over.

"Not interested!" Fudo shouted back.

"Don't say that, Fudo, he could have a gun somewhere in there!" Nova whispered.

"Nova, Don't. They're thugs. They'll trick you into buying something worthless." He whispered back. But before he could stop her, she was trotting over to the salesman and browsing through merchandise.

"I won't be long!" She winked.

"Well, while she's at it, I may aswell look too." Chrys added, joining Nova.

"Idiots!" Fudo said under his breath, walking over cautiously.

Chrys looked in the trolley, there were guns, swords and arrows. The list was endless, It looked like they were good quality too. Fudo said not to go near salesmen, but the merchandise looked too tempting to resist. Nova had her eye on a pistol worth 5J. But one thing that stood out to the celestial mage were two knifes with magic infused into them, she wasn't sure what type, but curiosity got the better of her.

"I'll take these." She stated, handing over the money.

"What do you think you're doing?" Fudo shouted at her.

"Relax." She said as the salesman handed over the weapon.

"H-Hold on... What guild are you with? Hehe, looks like we have a Legal guild in town. Not just any, but Blue Pegasus!" The three mages got a better look at the salesman. He looked like a zombie. He was so skinny that his cheek bones stuck out like that of a starved person and his pale complexion enhanced the dark cirlces underneath his eyes. His black, greasy hair reached down to his bony elbows and when he smiled, his teeth were like sweetcorn.

"I'm part of the local guild, and we don't take kindly to goody-guilds like you. I'll be taking those knifes back, thank you!" He said in a voice that made him sound as if he'd been smoking for the last 200 years. He reached out his skeleton hands to snatch the newly bought knifes off Chrys. Just before he could grab them, she hid them behind her back.

"Give me them!" He cried, positioning himself into an attacking stance.

"You Idiots! I told you to stay away from him, he used magic to make you buy those, Chrys, now you've just brought attention to us." Fudo snarled as he also prepared for a spell.

The salesman reached into his trolley and pulled out an axe.

"I'll get you for this!" He shouted, swinging it in Chrys's direction. She leaped out of the way, causing the salesman to fall off balance and and hit his trolley. His face turned from bad to worse as he growled in fury at the three disruptive mages.

"I'm going... To kill you!" He shouted.

"Way to go, guys." Fudo exclamed, "Cosmic dragon, Star attack!" he waved his arm horizontally from one side of his body to another, making white, star-shaped fragments go shooting towards the unaware weapon salesman. He tried to block using the blade of his axe, but there were to many of them to avoid. The more attacks landed, the more the salesman got pushed back from his original position.

"Requip, Machine gun!" Nova shouted as a large gun materialized in her arms. She loaded it with extra bullets from her belt and started firing. The bullets had the same effect as the stars, that eventually knocked him over. It was his turn to attack now.

"Axe magic, blade rush!" He Chanted. His blade suddenly increased to a condsiderably bigger size and shone a tone of red. It looked strange for such a small guy to be holding such a large weapon. He was standing up slowly, barely managing to carry such a heavy object. Chrys saw this as an opportunity for _her_ attack.

"Open, Gate of the huntsman, Orien!" She pulled out a shiny silver key and twisted it. The faint sound of a door bell could be heard as a magic circle appeared and a tall man in a green laderhosen stepped out holding an old fashioned gun. In his Rucksack, he had many more weapons such as a bow and arrow, and a cross bow.

"What'cha want me to do today, little lady?" He asked in a strong American accent, fixing his large, brown belt.

"Kill him!" His master yelled in panic, as the zombie-like salesman stood up, ready to strike.

"I'm on it." He said, wriggling his eyebrows. He stood infront of Chrys, his ginger hair waved in the little wind that was passing over the lip of the valley. He loaded his gun and started firing large bullets toward the enemy, who was now throwing himself forward, the heavy axe grew bigger and bigger the more he charged. Droplets of blood formed on his limbs from were the previous attacks hit him, but it didn't stop him from swinging the massive blade across, hitting one mage after the other. The three piled together on one side of it, each feeling the sting of metal sinking into their skin. They all let out a blood curling shout as they hit the floor. Nova and Chrys lay down, holding their sides. The only one that stood up was Fudo. He looked down at the two girls and the de-materializing spirit.

"You've really pissed me off." Fudo growled, his eyes narrowing and his pointed teeth on show. "Cosmic dragon, Wing attack!" He chanted, running ruthlessly along the dying grass and towards the axeman, arms out spread. A pink aura envelpoed itself around them and took the form of wings.

"Take this!" He shouted as he slashed the weapon salesman and knocked him down to the floor. He wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. "Hey, are you all okay?" The cosmic dragon dashed over to the wounded and knelt down.

"I'm f-fine..." Chrys said, standing up slowly.

"Same here..." Nova added, joining her.

"Why did you do that? I told you not too!" He scolded once he realized they were fine. "He was using magic to make you want to buy the weapons! Obviously, you just can't ressist temptation!"  
"I'm sorry, Fudo! I'm not smart enough to realize these things!" Nova cried.

"Oh... So that's why I bought those random knifes..." Chrys said, surprised she was fooled, "Nova... What're you doing?" She then said, looking over to find the Requip mage raking through the trolley and picking up any available guns.

"You've got to take while the taking's good! Besides, he won't notice!" She said smuggly, taking yet another gun from out of the kart.

"Stop it, Nova. Remember, we're here to negociate with the guild, not to annoy them." Fudo sighed.

"Okay. Fine." She droned, walking back over to the rest of her team mates.

The team advanced over the rough terrain and finnaly reached the town in the middle. The guild hall was the biggest building in the place so they could tell where it was straight away. The town was a dump. It was dry as a bone and infested with sales people. It appeared that was the only way to make money around here. The houses were merely build from wood and stones. The luckier ones had slight fills of concrete. But that was all. Chrys couldn't help but feel sorry for them as they they passed through on their way to the massive building. It looked nothing like that of Blue Pegasus's, the walls were made entirely of stone and concrete and had a thatched roof. The guild mark of an outline of a tombstone with an arrow pointing through it hung on a flag pole near the small wooden door at the front from which they entered. The interior didn't look much better. The only things in the room were two tables and their baran request board. Most of the members sat on the floor. They all looked up when the three mages walked in.

"Excuse me, we would like to speak to your master." Fudo said. Hiding his guild mark.

"Why?" the creaky voice of the man sitting on one of the two tables asked.

"It's private." He replied calmly. Each member looked almost exactly the same as the one from before.

"Hmmm, okay. Come this way." He lifted up a bony hand and bekoned him into a small room at the back. Chrys and Nova started to follow. "No! One person at a time!" he shouted at them.

"Okay. I guess we'll stay in here until you're finished..." Nova gulped, looking at all the intimidating faces of the Undead Screams guild.

Fudo entered the door at the back. It looked small enough to be a toilet.

"What do you want?" A tall figure asked from the corner. He looked completely different from the zombie-like guild members, he looked younger and had short, black, spiky hair. Fudo guessed this was the master. The creaking of the wooden door shutting could be heard from behind him.

"I came here looking for information on the four object demons of Zeref." He stated.

"If I knew anything, why would I tell you?" The master replied.

"Me and my team are locating and defeating them."

"It's about time. What guild are you with?"  
"I need to keep that confidental."  
"Tell me what guild you're with."

"Tell me the information."

"All the information is in this book." The master of the undead screams held up a large, hardback information book named 'The book of Zeref'." Tell me which guild you're with, so I can pass jugement on you.

"Okay. I'm with a legal guild. That's all I can say."

"Torrent of wind." He chanted. A gust of wind came flying from the palms of his hands and blew of Fudo's black coat.

"Ah, Blue Pegasus. In that case, I'll hand you this book. That is only because of our town's curse that is not letting them leave. We would have all the power in the world if they hadn't taken away their freedom."

"I'll take it." Fudo said, amazed by their cooperation.

"On one condition. You don't tell a soul. If you do, I'll hunt your guild down and kill you."

"I can agree to that." he said, shaking the most healthy-looking hand he'd seen all day.

"Let's go!" he called out to Nova and Chrys, who were standing in the hall awkuardly as the guild members stared at what people from the outside looked like. They happily followed him outsideand into the centre of town.

"Open, gate of the bird of paradise, Apus!" Chrys called, clutching a winged, silver key and twisting it. Out flew Apus, ready to take them wherever they needed to go next.


	10. A disappointing revelation

**Heeeeeey! I have my internet back, so I'll be uploading much faster (Yaaay) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy my tenth chapter! XD**

Chapter 10: A disapointing revelation

The bird of paradise swooped and glided back over the baran valley, Nova still clinging on for dear life.

"Why did they just hand you the book of Zeref like that? Isn't it a bit strange?" Chrys called behind her.

"They had no use for it. Their whole guild - apart from the master - was under a curse."

"I suppose."  
"I was quite surprised too, especially after we got attacked by that other guild member." Fudo was also slightly puzzled, but he new it was illegal to posses such scrpit. "Wow, this book has everything! It even has dark spells used by the wizard!" He added, flicking through the ancient pages until he got to the right section. "Chrys... Look at this."

The celesial mage turned round and read the page in question;

_The four object demons of Zeref lie in the Icy mountains of Galascia, the mansion of Ivder, the forest of Canalar and the sea shore of Perfonie. _

_WARNING: Please note that once you seal the demons in their boxes, to prevent them from escaping when they've re-charged their power, you must use this light spell: ..._

"Great... None of us know light magic. What're we going to do?" Chrys asked.

"We're gon'na need to go back to the guild and get help from a light wizard. Not sure if there is any though... But It's too risky travelling with the box of the house demon if it could attack any minute." Fudo replied, slightly exasperated.

Chrys sighed, "Great... We have to go all the way back? Well, there's one good thing, we have the locations of all four!" She tried to add a positive note on the end, but it didn't come out very enthusiastic.

"W-h-h-at?" Nova trembled from behind.

"It's for the best." Fudo looked behind him.

"B-B-B-ut there's no light wizards in our guild..."  
"We'll have to try look."

"Apus, head for the guild." The celestial mage ordered, sighing yet again. The bird was moving in the right direction, so she quickened her speed, causing Nova to let out a small whimper.

A few hours had past when Apus finnaly landed on the fresh grass of the guild. They all slid off the bird's outstretched wing and for the first time in a while, felt the homely presence of Blue Pegasus. Chrys sent the helpful spirit back to it's world and joined Fudo and Nove to the entrance.

"I'll go break the news to Bob." The cosmic dragon walked over to the guild master, who was buisy painting his nails.

"Fudo! Back so soon, Darling?" He questioned enthusiastically when he realized he was there.

"Acctually, Bob, we have some news to report. We have gained possesion of a copy of the book of Zeref and think it would be best to put it in a safe place. We now know the locations of the three we still need to obtain so it's of no use to anyone now. Another thing we learned from the book is that in order to prevent the demons from escaping, we need someone to cast a light encasement spell on it."

"I see... The actual book of Zeref? Okay, first, write down the locations of the demons, then give the book to me and I'll hand it in to the council. I'll then look round the guild to find a light mage to help you on your journey. Anything else I can do for you hun?"

"Erm... No, thanks. We'll start searching around the guild for any light mages first."

"Oh, you! I'll go get you a map and mark the places. Meanwhile, You go find a light mage." Bob smiled, retreating to his office.

"Okay. Now that we've taken care of the book, let's find a light mage." Fudo turned around to face the other two.

"Okays!" Nova cheered. The three mages moved in their opposite directions.

Chrys was unsure of who to ask. She'd barely joined the guild so she didn't know anyone so she decided to follow Fudo.

"Erm... Fudo, I don't know anyone here, can I go with you?" She asked awkuardly.

"Yeah, sure, I was about to go ask the Trimens if they knew anyone."

"Thanks."

Soon enough, Fudo and Chrys approched Hibiki, Ren and Eve. The celestial mage was relived to see there was no Ichiya with them.

"Hey, Can I ask you guys something?" The dragon slayer strode up to them confidently.

"Sure, what?" Eve replied.

"Do you guys know of any light mages in the guild?"  
"No, sorry... " Hibiki replied, not noticing Chrys, who was trying to avoid any social situations like before.

"Oh, okay, see 'ya!" the two walked away, both in deep thought.

Nova decided to ask the most social person in the guild. Jenny. She spotted her sitting at a table with other female members of the guild near the bar. Nove pulled her dress up at the bottom and down at the top and walked up to her.

"Hey, Jenny! Haven't spoke to you in ages!"  
"Hey, Nova! How's it going?"  
"Good, although I came over here to ask if you know any light mages that have joined the guild, so I can't talk long ...Do you?"

"Hmmm... Oh yeah! There is one, but I suggest you stay away from him." Jenny was slightly disapointed at Nova's abnormal anti-social behaviour, but answered her question anyway.

"Yay! Thanks, I'll see you later!" She cried on her way back to Fudo and Chrys, who were currently asking their 10th person.

Chrys and Fudo looked across to see Nova running excitedly towards them.

"Hey, guys, guess what?" She called.

"Did you find someone?" Fudo asked in disbelif.

"Yeah! I got all the info from Jenny. His name is Ishigo, he's a light mage, and I was advised to stay away from him which means he must be like mega powerful or something!"

"Great! I didn't know the guy existed until now!"

"Me neither!"  
"He must be new or something..."

"That's even better! He built up a reputation like that in such a short period of time!"

"Okay... That's good and all, but where is he?" Chrys interupted.

"According to Jenny... That's him over there!" The three mages looked across at a table where a mid-height, lone boy was sitting. His face was hid by sunglasses and most of his black hair was covered by the large collar of his long, shady black coat. The group cautiously approched him, trying to make their appearance look as intimidating as his.

**Thanks for reading, and what do you think of the new character so far? I'll be introducing him properly in chapter eleven. Pluuus, what would you prefer, Fudys, or Fuva? Review or pm me! I'll also be accepting OCs to play a small part in the guild since there aren't very many members and I can't be bothered creating new ones by myself. :)**


	11. The mission restarts

**Heyy! So, yet again a short chapter. I'll be fully introducing Ichigo's... Interesting characteristics here! I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 11 - The mission re-starts.

Fudo was the first one to clear his throat and speak.

"Excuse me, we were wondering if you could possibly help us with something."  
Ichigo lowered his sunglasses slightly to reveal his peircing, narrow eyes. Everyone tensly anticipated a reply.

"...Oh," Nova and Chrys looked away in fear, "...My GOD! Someone has like actually came to my table! I'm totally thrilled!" He lifted his hands and started fanning his face. "And a hot boy at that! Oh, geez! I'm tearing up! How embarassing!"

Fudo's face dropped like a ton of bricks while Chrys and Nova robotically turned their heads in disbelif at what once intimidated them. No one could let any words escape their open mouths while the famed light mage brought out a spotty hankerchief and removed his sunglasses to reveal large, purple eyes. He then let out a long sigh.

"So... What did you need me for?" Ichigo turned round to the three flabbergasted mages, who couldn't belive what they were seeing. Silence soon fell upon the four of them. Once again, Fudo was the one to break it.

"Er... We were wondering if you use light magic..." He hoped they had the wrong person.

"Yep! That's me! Always lookin' on the bright side! Do you need my magic for something? 'Cause I'll happily help my new friends!" He giggled.

"It's been two minutes and he's already decided he's our friends?" Chrys muttered in the background.

"Great... We need you to perform a light encasement spell on this box." Fudo tried to say in a non-freaked out manner whilst pulling out the intricate jewellery box that contained the soul of the house demon.

"Sure! Hand it over!" He cried. Fudo cautiously handed over the box, making sure the light mage had a proper grip before completely releasing it into new hands. The mage stood up and looked down upon it, admiring it's design before chanting the incantation.

"Light rays gather from far and wide, help me now by being by my side, encase the darkness from within, provide repent for mortal sin. Release!" A blinding spectrum of light filled the room, the box vibrated in his hands as the light reached the soul of pure darkness and destroyed it. The vicious shaking died down, symbolizing the death of one of Zeref's greatest weapons. Along with it, the light weakened into nothing.

"What are you guys doing over there? You nearly blinded me!" a guild member complained.

"Yeah, me too! What's the big idea?"

"Sorry, guys! It was important for us to do that. It won't happen again!" The dragon slayer managed to sound casual after all the whinning from the guild members.

"Thanks, Ichigo. I guess we'd better be off." Nova turned away, expecting the other two members of her team to follow.

"Waait! Where are you going?" the light mage enquired eagerly.

"On a quest to find more boxes like these. Oh yeah, and we were wondering if you can use that spell on them all once we come back."

"Won't it be easier if I just came with you?" he winked at Fudo, who gave him a disgusted look in return.

"Erm... You see... I don't think we can handle anymore people when it comes to transport..." Chrys lied.

"Tee hee! You don't need to worry, I'm an easy traveller!"

"I mean... Not enough room."  
"Aww, there's not much to me! I'll be fine! Let me just go pack my things! I'll be right back!" he called, scurrying away to the boy's dorms.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Chrys yelled exasperatedly as soon as she made sure he'd left completely.

"I don't know! He's packing his bags to come with us and he doesn't even know our names!" Nova used the same tone.

"Let's look at the bright side here... His magic could be useful in battle and it means we can destroy each one by one."

"The only _bright _thing here is his annoying personality! I can barely cope with Nova, how am I going to deal with this?" Chrys cried, getting a sharp glance of the gun requip mage.

"I guess we'd be better off bringing him with us... Even if he _is_ the most annoying person I've ever met."

"I suppose I can agree... Oh, Fudo, you're so smart!" Nova threw her arms around him, reciving a sharp glance in return from the celestial mage.

"I'm ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ack!" Ichigo came sprinting down the stairs with a matching black, Heart Kreuz, magic shoulder bag.

"Here he comes..." The three all died a little bit inside as they gazed up at his non-stop smiling face.

"Okay, let's go round the back and get on Apus." Nova droned.

"Apus, what's an Apus?" Their newest team member asked excitedly.

"You'll see." Fudo growled back, leading the three outside.

Chrys stood in the centre of the earthy landscape, her arm outstretched.

"Open, gate of the bird of paradise, Apus!" her wrist briskfully twisted, opening a door from one world to another. The gorgeous white bird flew out and landed on a patch of grass.

"Wow!" The light mage screeched girlishly. "It's so pretty!"

"Yupp, this is Apus." Chrys said triumphantly.

"Oh, by the way... What's your names?" Ichigo questioned, causing the three mages to fall to the ground.

**What did you think? (He's so annoying D:) Please tell me if you find his personality a little too annoying and I can alter him slightly. In the next chapter, they'll be flying to their first location and Fudo will open up about his past. Hope you enjoyed :)**


	12. Memories are revealed

Chapter 12: Memories are revealed.

Apus arose. She flapped her wings continuously, making the guild hall look smaller and smaller as they gained more and more altitude.

"Oh my goodness!" Ichigo called. "Isn't this fun?"

"Shut up, Ichigo!" Nova looked behind her at the always excited new team member.

"Weeeeeee!" the light mage ignored Nova's comment.

"Ichigo, if you don't shut up, I swear I'll knock you off!" Chrys yelled frustratedly.

"N'awww! Relax! I was just having a little bit of fun.. Er, what was your name again?"

"CHRYS!" the celestial mage screamed in exasperation.

"Hey, Fu-chan, is she always this grumpy?"  
"Yeah. Pretty much." the dragon slayer whispered back, "Wait, what's up with that nickname?!"  
"You do know, I can hear you!" Chrysanthemum called behind her.

"Hey, Nova, when's it my turn to sit behind Fu-chan?" Ichigo asked the person infront of her.

"Never! I'm only behind Fudo because I'm scared of heights!"

"Fu-chan, I'm scared of heights too!" the light mage cried, winking flirtatiously at the dragon slayer who was two people infront of him. He once again recieved a disgusted look in return.

"Deal with it!" Nova yelled, almost falling to one side. "Kyaa!" She screamed, once again clinging onto Fudo's back, making Ichigo purse his lips in jelousy.

"Can you all be quiet? You're giving me a headache! Why I agreed to this I don't know!" Chrysanthemum shouted back at the three arguing mages.

"You're not helping by shouting even more, flat chest!" Nova commented.

"Uh, oh. You just got burned!" Ichigo thought it nessicary to add.

"Shut the hell up!" His three commrades screeched in unison. This pointless agrument continued until nightfall when Apus was glad to land in a nearby clearing so the four 'friends' could camp for the night.

"Apus, go back to the spirit world." Chrys called while in the middle of yawning. A gate opened and the bird of paradise flew into it, cooing softly in the process.

"Did everyone bring a magic bag so you could fit a sleeping bag and a change of clothes in it?" Fudo questioned, hoping the answer would be positive.

"Yeah." Chrys replied.

"Yes." Nova joined.

"Ah-ha!" Ichigo sang.

"Great... So that's everyone. Let's hit the hay."  
"Fu-chan, can I sleep next to you? I'm afraid of the dark..." The light mage protested, edging closer and closer to the disturbed dragon slayer.

"Get away from me you creep!" Fudo shouted back at him, standing up in his sleeping bag and hopping away from Ichigo, who was getting closer and closer behind him. Soon enough, Nova and Chrys were the only two people lying down while Fudo and Ichigo circled them playing sleeping bag chase.

"I've had it. Requip, Twin pistols!" Nova chanted, aquiring two loaded guns and joining the chase. She stood up in her sleeping bag and hopped along behind Ichigo, firing a bullet or two. Chrys lay there for about ten minutes questioning her sanity - and her sleeping pattern - until Nova shot the bottom of Ichigo's sleeping bag causing him to fall over.

"Ahhhhh!" he cried keeling over and crashing to the ground.

"Now that you're lying down, we might be able to get some sleep." Nova sighed triumphantly.

"I think I'll lie down over here..." Fudo crawled as far away as possible from his fallen predator.

"Oh, don't be shy, Fu-fu! I'll come sleep next to you tommorow!" The light mage winked, sending a chill up the dragon slayer's spine. Soon enough, he fell asleep, leaving Nova, Chrys and Fudo awake. The three of them lay in a line.

"Thank god he's asleep... It's the only time he doesn't seem to make any noi-" The gun requip mage was interrupted by loud snoring. "I can't take this any more!" Tears accumulating in her eyes.

"It'll be fine. We need him for our mission. Once it's over, we'll never see him again." Fudo hesitantly re-assured.

"I hope you're right. Night guys."

"Night, Nova." The two team members replied. Faint breathing could soon be heard from Nova, indicating her state of slumber.

"Well, I guess we'd better sleep too." Fudo told Chrys.

"Wait... There'e one thing I need to ask you about first."

"Hmm?"  
"Rumor has it that dragon slayers were raised by actual dragons... It that true?"

"Well... Yeah... The dragons all dissapeared in the year 777 though... No one has seen one since... with the exeption of Acnologia."  
"What happened after your dragon disapeard?"

"Her name was Starsha. She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. My real parents apparently got killed, but I guess I'm not too bothered about that since I never knew them. Sometimes I wonder what they were like... I wonder what would've happened if they didn't get killed. But fate lead me to her. I was young when I met her, so I didn't really understand what was going on. I was scared, lonely and lost. But she had the kindness to bring me in and take me under her wing... Literally. She educated me and taught me dragon slayer magic. I used to wake up every morning in her talons... But one day... I woke up to nothing. I searched and searched far and wide until I found the Trimens of Blue Pegasus out playing one day. I was close to starvation so I walked up to them. They were a bit older than me so I thought they could help. And they did. They took me to Master Bob were I was fed and looked after. Ever since then I've lived in the guild, promising that one day I would find my dragon again and return her kindness." If it wasn't so dark, Chrys would've seen the tears trickle down the mighty dragon slayer's cheecks.

"Oh... The good thing is you're alright now." Chrys tried to add a happy note and failed. "Hey, if it helps, I'll tell you about my life... My life was pretty much normal, I suppose. My sister, Karen was a member of the Blue Pegusas guild and I always looked up to her. She gave me my first key... I was young at the time so I didn't really understand what it did, but I've always held it dear to me. She lived at the guild so I didn't really get to see her much. She visited home every month or so for a day then she would leave again. Then one day... My mum recived news of her death... I heard her weeping every night before sleeping. I felt like I wasn't enough to make her happy. I stopped communicating with people and soon had next to no friends. I waited for the day I could take her place at the guild, but I guess that didn't really go as planned." she managed to maintain what looked like a smile before her and Fudo fell asleep.

"Hey, Chrys! I'm so glad to be seeing you again! I missed you so much!" Karen called open armed.

"Karen! I missed you too! What've you been up too at the guild?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just Jobs and stuff. Tell me, what do you want to be when you're older?"

"I want to be a princess, just like you!"

Karen chuckled, "Then I have the perfect gift for you, here." she handed over a what looked like a key, it was silver and had crowns imprinted on it. Chrys took it confused.

"It's the gate of the chained princess, Andromeda. You can keep it for when you're older and join the guild!"

"What? Are you sure? It's a long time before Chrys is allowed to join a guild. Do you not need it?" Her mum walked through, drying a fork.

"It'll be fine!"

And that was the last visit from her sister.

"Ahh!" The celestial mage woke up in sweats and tears. This wasn't the first time she'd had that dream. The sun was rising, indroducing the start of a new day.


	13. Galascia

Chapter 13 - Galascia

After her nightmare, the celestial mage catiously went back to sleep until the rising of her team mate re-awoke her.

"MORNING!" Ichigo screamed. At this point, everyone was too tired to bother answering. The team soon got changed and ready to start travelling again.

"Erghh, how long is it 'til we get there?" Nova whined just before they boarded a patient Apus.

"We'll arrive at about lunch time." Fudo tiredly replied.  
"Wha-a-at? It's like six in the morning! I can't be bothered travelling for another 6 hours!" she complained.

"Well, sorry, but to get to Galascia, that's what it's going to take."

Nova moaned.

"Don't worry, Nova, I'll keep you all entertained!" Ichigo came trotting over.

"Go away." she glared back, causing him to take a few steps away.

"Stop complaining, Nova." By this time, Chrys had already made her way up the bird.

"I'm not complaining!" she shouted back up.

"Look, guys, can we all just go?" Fudo remarked, leaping up an incredible distance.

"Yay!" Ichigo followed eagerly. Nova grumpily complied.

Soon enough, the four mages were high in the sky, above the fluffy, white clouds. The sky was a vast blue, but still contained a tint of night.

"Hey, guys... I'm not feeling so good..." the celestial mage groaned.

"What's wrong?" The trying-not-to-care dragon slayer answered from behind her.

"I just...It doesn't matter. I'll be fine."

"Tell us if you want to take a break, after all, it's your magic that we're draining by flying on Apus."

"Don't worry about me."  
"If you fall unconcious or something, Apus will disappear. So make sure you tell us, you little brat." She heard the impatient gun requip mage call from behind her.

"I said don't worry about me!"

"It's not you I'm worried about, it's me!"

"Guys, fighting's never the answer!" Ichigo chirped from the back.

"Shut up, Ichigo!" the two girls turned back and holloured.

"Guys, I still haven't properly woken up yet, keep it down." Fudo grumbled. Chrys then remembered Fudo's attitude after sleep deprivation and how rude he was to Hibiki. Then again, it wasn't as rude as some of the things that come out of Nova's mouth when she's in a _normal_ mood.

The last comment from Fudo kept the rest of the team slient until the temprature dropped dramatically.

"G-Guys... Have you noticed that it's suddenly become freezing?" Ichigo trembled.

"Well, I did say we were going to 'Galascia'." Fudo answered.

"Point t-taken..." Chrys shivered, "Where a-are we landing?"

"Try and make it close to town."

"Okay, Ap-pus, land on the outskirts of town." The celestial mage commanded. The bird of paradise cooed softly as she swooped down and landed on a patch of snow. This was the town of Galascia. The four mages slid off and hit the icy ground, shuddering as they felt the cold-ness of the snow seep through their shoes.

"It's freeeezing!" Ichigo yelped, being the first to verbally react to the arctic-like landscape.

"Ret-t-turn, Apus." Chrys quivered, closing the gate.

Unlike the last place they visited, the area was full of life, people walked about everywhere, looking extremely healthy, and a full-fledged community had developed.

"We need to get some suitable clothing. I'm too cold, Fudo!" Nova grasped onto his arm, hugging it tightly.

"I'm cold too!" Ichigo cried helplessly, attempting to grab his other arm. It soon turned out much like the last situation.

"Jeez." the pale-haired mage sighed, face palming.

The team walked along the narrow path to the town centre to find some new clothes, Nova protesting the whole way.

"Nova, I'm getting sick of your complaining. Shut your face!" Chrys finnaly turned around and yelled.

"Make me!"

"Oh, I will!"

"You wan'na go?"

"Fine!"

"Argh, stop it, you two! We're almost at the boutique." Fudo interupted.

"Okay, Fudo!" the gun requip mage's mood suddenly changed.

The four entered the shop and examined the clothes. In the end, Chrys bought a long, dark red coat that flared out into a skirt at the bottom, and a light pink scarf. She kept her usual set of baggy trousers on. Nova changed out of her tight, black dress and exchanged it for a tight, polar-neck, blue jumper and skinny jeans. She also bought a black hat - just to accessorise. Fudo stayed in his usual outfit of dark blue jacket and baggy jeans. Ichigo wrapped himself up in his long, black coat. The four mages were ready to face the next demon.

They exited the shop to once again find themselves in a winter wonderland. Flakes of snow gently passed them as they walked toward the 'tourist information' centre. Inside stood a kind, old man.

"Excuse me, but do you know how to get to the mountains?" Fudo calmly questioned, leaning on his wooden desk.

"T-The What?!" The man gasped.

"The mountains. We are aware of the dangers. Infact we came here to attempt to put an end ot it. Have you got and cable cars leading up?"  
"I'm sorry, but we don't have any method of transport leading up there. It's far too dangerous. Good day too you." The four then got almost forced out of the tourist information centre.

"Wow... He seems to be strongly against this. I gues we'll just have to fly up on Apus." Chrys suggested.

"Okay, but he could've atleast told us the direction. What an old fart." Nova added.

"We'll just have to fly up and search. I'm pretty sure that mountains are easy to spot." Fudo reminded that they still had Apus.

"Okay." Chrys got into her summoning stance, "Open, gate of the-" she was about to finish her sentence when she unexpectadly fell to the ground unconsious.

"Chrys!" Fudo cried, lifting her up, "We need to get her to a hospital or something!"

"Are you sure?" Nova questioned, "She only fainted. Hold on... Does that mean we have to climb up the mounatin on foot?! Get her to a hospital!"

Chrys grunted, turning over in her hospital bed. Her eyes flickered open to get a short glimpse of her companions. They were all standing around her, looking over. It was then she began to wonder where she was. She feebley opened her eyes to hear Ichigo shout the obvious.

"She's waking up, guys!"

"Where am I?" was only her first question.

"You fainted whilst summoning Apus, so we took you to the hospital. We thought that your magic power had drained until you threw up a black substance. No one really knows what's wrong with you so we're keeping you hear until they do." Fudo replied softly.

"Thanks... But I'll be okay. Besides, you need Apus for flying up the mountain."  
"See? I think she'll be just fine, we don't have to postpone the mission." Nova said bitterly.

"No. We'll take a break from the mission if you're not well." Fudo enforced.

"But, Fudo!"

"It's okay. If you don't want me to come when I'm injured, you can all go by yourselves." Chrys suggested weakly, although she wanted to see Ichigo in combat.

"Poor Chrys!" the light mage didn't mean to sound patronizing.

"Fine. But we'll share the reward money with you when we get back. We'll have to go on foot." Fudo finnaly backed down.

"What?" Nova protested.

"Do you want to go or not?"

"Fine."

Chrys lay back down in her comfly hospital bed whilst she saw her three commerades walk away, ready for combat.

**Hey again! So hopefully it will be longer and there will be some more battle action in the next chapter, I'm having writers block when it comes to the uploading of Fairy Ball, so I'll try and come up with something quickly. Stay tuned ;D**


	14. Lost at snow

The adventures of Chrysanthemum Lilica, Chapter 14 - Lost at snow

Fudo, Nova and Ichigo left the hospital, each feeling regret for abandoning their injured commrade. Their next stop would be the mountains. After asking countless residents of the location, they finnaly made it to the foot of the overwhelming mountain.

"We have to climb that?!" shrieked Nova in horror, examining the large alp up to it's summit.

"Well, it's the only way to get up." Fudo stated.

"Arghhh! Why did the little brat have to get ill just when we need her?! Talk about unreliable!"

"It's not _her _fault!" Ichigo cried in her defence, but he spoke upon deaf ears as the other two had already started ascending up the snowy abundance.

Chrys lay helplessly in her hospital bed, wishing she could do more to help her team members. It was then she started wondering why she was ill. She'd never heard of people throwing up black vomit before. She decided to stop worrying and go to sleep. But as she bagan to lie down a piercing pain inflicted her side.  
"Ahh!" she screamed, clutching her wound and arching her back. Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse, another helping of black vomit ran up her throat and erupted from her mouth. The nurse ran in worridly to find the celestial mage sitting up in her bed with a black substance trickling down the bed sheets and onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" she questioned in panic.

"Do I look okay?!" A mixture of tears and regurgitated poison had covered the bed by now as the nurse called for back up.

"Fudo, I'm tired!" Nova called up to the quick moving Fudo, who ignored her in return. The three had made it atleast three quarters up the snowy mountain and were almost exhausted.

"Hey, guys! I was thinking... You know how team members have like flashy names and stuff? Well I was thinking that we should have one too! Like um.."

"No." Nova asserted before she could hear any of his rediculous suggestions.

"But-"

"I said no!" she assured as the three began to reach the highest point. Fudo was the first to clamber over the mountainous sculpture to meet his goal. The other two soon followed. They speant the first 10 minutes lying down in the cold snow, gasping for air and resting.

"I guess we'd better be going." Fudo informed the other two through the thick snowstorm.

Chrys continued screaming in pain as throbbing agony coarsed through her veins. The nurse's backup joined her, examining her condition. In the end, they decided to put her to sleep and operate. The last thing she felt before being knocked out was the stinging of a needle in her arm.

Ichigo, Nova and Fudo waided through the heavy snow, barely able to see where they were going.

"Look for a magical preasence!" The dragon slayer ordered, "Watch out for the demon's tricks! Last time it was possesion, this time who knows what it's going to be?"

The three could tell there was something there, but they couldn't pinpoint an exact location.

"Another thing, also look for it's box!" He added.

"How are we supposed to find that in all this snow?" The gun requip mage exclamed.

"I remember Chrys saying she could feel a lot more magic eminating from that that anything else, so we shouldn't have much of a problem!"

The three travelled far and wide, but nothing was found. It had been another 2 hours when they realized something was wrong.

"I-I'm too cold. I don't think I can walk much further..." Nova trembled.

"Same h-here..." Ichigo agreed.

"I d-d-don't understand... We've been walking for ages but the path doesn't seem to end..." Fudo added. Nova was trying her hardest to carry on, but her efforts were wasted as her ankle twisted and she keeled over.

"Nova!" Fudo called, joining her side.

Ichigo was the one to turn back and realize that nothing seemed to look the same.

"G-Guys... Look back! I don't remember w-w-walking that way! " he shivered.

"What?!" Nova cried, also looking back.

"This must be the demon's trick! This explains why travlers don't ever return! The demon creates a maze and traps it's prey, then using the cold weather, it kills them and devours their souls!" realized the cosmic dragon slayer as the two others gaped in surprise at how fast he worked that out.

"Demon! Come out of hiding. We know your tricks!" Fudo yelled, helping Nova stand up. Just as he said that, a large clump of snow gathered together and formed an unusual figure that soon ambled towards them.

"Here it comes!" Fudo warned as it revealed it's true self. It wasn't as tall as the house demon, infact it was almost the complete opposite. It was ordinarily sized and looked perfectly nimble. The Abominable Snowman.

"You saw through my tricks." It said in a gruff voice. "Clever... And I take it was also you that defeated the domestic demon, heh, I always knew it was a weakling. I am the demon of the mountains. The second demon of Zeref. We each have our own little party tricks. Mine is as you said, to change the course of my mountain. I'm also very skilled at ice magic. The domestic demon had the power to posses one's soul, therefore it was exeptionally good at shadow magic. Although, there's really no point in me telling you this as I will be your very last opponent."

Using it's monkey-like feet, it sprang up creating a blade of ice on it's arm.

"You. I ain't lettin' you hurt my friends." The light mage's voice completely changed. Sunglasses materialized on his face and his long black coat burled in the wind. He then outstretched his arm and moved his fingers into the shape of a gun.

"light gun." he calmly chanted. From out of his finger, bullet-like lasers shot at the yetti. Once the other two had got over his sudden personality change, they decided to help.

"Requip, multiplyer!" A shiny firearm materialized into her open palm. She aimed, then fired a single bullet. That bullet them multiplyed in mid air until there was about 10 of them and pierced her target. Having been hit with lasers and bullets, the Yetti became more and more aggresive.

"Howl of snow!" he chanted. A stream of ice and snow shot towards the three mages.

"Roar of the cosmic dragon!" Fudo counter attacked. The two beams colided in mid-air, each magician exerting more and more power until the two exploded into nothing. When the explosion cleared, the demon had gone. Fudo desperatly looked around until he heard the scream of Nova as she got slashed by a ariel attack.

"Nova!" The two shouted.

"I'm fine."

"Ball of light!" Ichigo chanted, forming the shape of a ball between his hands. The demon was too quick for him. Just before he had the chance to send it flying, he also recieved an aerial attack. Ice slashed through his arm and blood stained the once white snow. As the Demon of the mountain landed back in his position, they all realised that he hadn't recieved a single scratch.

"How are we going to beat him?" Nova exclaimed.

"I don't know, but be prepared for when he attacks from the sky!" Fudo answered.

"Light beam!" Ichigo called, firing a large laser at the target. Once again, he easily doged.

"Cosmic dragon, wing attack!" Fudo attempted to give the Abominable snowman a taste of his own medicine, but narrowly missed as the target once again dodged.

"Requip, howitzer!" Nova chanted. She beckoned the two mages to come closer. "Fudo, use your roar attack directly forward, Ichigo, use your light beam to join him. I'll take care of the rest." She whispered.

"Fine. Roar of the cosmic dragon!" Fudo belowed.

"Light beam!"

The two attacks hurtled forwards, and as expected, the demon jumped up.

"Sky shot!" Nova called, firing a bullet upwards. It once again missed the target.

"Ha!" called the yeti smuggly, looking down on the determined Nova. Just as the Demon thought he got away with it, the bullet exploded like a firework into a million colours, hitting the gobsmacked enemy and causing him to fall.

"Nice one, Nova! Cosmic dragon star attack!" Fudo shouted, waving his arm horizontally and causing countless shouriken-shaped attacks flying towards the weakened target. The attack finnaly landed. The demon of the mountain was sent flying backwards until it hit a large rock.

"Cosmic dragon, Roar!"

"Light beam!"  
"Requip, multiplyer! Fire!"

The demon was finnaly defeated.

"Atleast that warmed us up..." Ichigo sighed. The three of them were exhausted. They still needed to find the box.

Suddenly, the mountain demon changed into a blob of ice and zoomed away.

"What?!" Nova cried.

"It's going to it's box!" Fudo shouted, "Follow it!"

The three mages trampled over thick snow until under a pile of snow, lay the box, from which it would be concealed in for eternity.

"Light rays gather from far and wide, help me now by being by my side, encase the darkness from within, provide repent for mortal sin. Release!" the light mage yelled, encasing the box in a harsh cloak of light.

"Yay! The bad demon's gone!"

"I see you're back to your normal self." Nova pointed out disappointedly.

"I guess we'd better be off an see Chrys." Fudo reminded.

"Does that mean we have to climb down the mountain again?! This day just keeps getting better and better..." Nova weeped.


	15. What's wrong with Chrys?

Chapter 15 - What's wrong with Chrys?

Slowly she awoke.

"What-t?" she managed to splutter before the nurse shushed her. Blurred conversation could be heard, but she couldn't tell who was talking or were they were talking from. When memories of her team mates leaving on a mission without her returned, she made yet another attempt at talking. But it just came out as a moan and was ignored by the several people that seemed to be standing in the room. It was almost as if they were having some sort of conference.

"Hmm, it appears as if something has poisoned her.." she managed to translate one of the nurses' distant voices. Poisoned? When could that have happned?

"I've never seen anything like it!" Another exclamed.

Breathless and tired from clambering down the enormous mountain, all they wanted to do was rest, although they all strove on to the hospital. The double doors were gently guided open as the three staggered in after the hard completion of their latest acheivement.

"Hello there, can I help you?" A kind receptionist elegantly walked over.

"Yes, we came to visit a patient. Also, my friend Ichigo's arm has been severed by our last opponent." Fudo attempted to sound intelligent.

"Hmm, let me see your friend's arm." She said almost judgementally. Ichigo stepped forward and feebley held out his bloody wound.

"That looks quite bad. I'll see if any of the nurses are available. You see their discussing something rather important through in room 169."

"169... That's Chrys' room!" Nova exclamed.

"Has something bad happened?" Fudo joined.

"Oww, my arm!" Ichigo complained.

"That's your friend?" the shocked nurse enquired, leading the injured Ichigo to a hospital room. "Hard luck... They're saying there may not be much they can do."

"What?!" Fudo yelled furiously as the four entered a room, where Ichigo was asked to sit down on the bed.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing much I can do either."  
"Let us visit her!"

"I'm not sure I'll be allowed, but I can definately check." She calmly replied, wrapping the remainder of Ichigo's bandages around his arm.

The celestial mage began to get worried. What if she'd been out for a while? What if they weren't coming back? The faded converation could still be heard from within the room, which slightly stressed her out. As if there wasn't enough going on already, there was a sharp knock on the door.

"Excuse me, would it be okay for the patient's friends to visit her?"

"I'm not sure, she's awake, but she seems to be in a daze and unsure what's happening."  
"I guess it should be okay. We can always discuss her condition in another room while they're talking to her."

Finnally something she wanted to hear. Well, that's if she hadn't misheard what they were saying. Familier murmering could be heard from behind the door. It was probably one of their stupid little arguments again. What she heard was right! Footsteps could be heard as the convention of nurses cleared out and conferred in another room, whilst the niggling of her commrades got louder and louder as they got closer and closer, until the three of them were soon perched on the stools next to her bed.

"Hello!?" Ichigo shouted in her face. The urge to tell him to shut up was almost overwhelming. The only thing that was stopping her was the fact that she couldn't actually talk proparly.

"Ichigo, be quiet! She's just got up!" Nova yelled. Just as that was said, Chrys' eyes slowly, but surely opened completely to reveal her run-down commrades, all wrapped in blankets.

"H-Hi... Guys..." She almost whispered.

"Hey! I'm soooo glad your'e awake!" Ichigo cried. This time, there was nothing stopping her.

"Urgh... Shut up, Ichigo..." she murmered from under her blanket. "But I guess I'm glad you're here..." she added as she saw tears form near his tear ducts. She decided to blame her moment of affection on the operation.

"We're fine, thanks. And we took down the demon, thanks for asking." Nova lifted her nose.

"You're welcome." She tried to use the same sarcastic tone back but it ended up sounding like a feeble whimper.

"So, do they know what's wrong with youuu?" the light mage somehow managed to sound happy.

"I'm not sure... All I heard was mumbling something about a poison."  
"Have you been in contact with anything unusual recently?"

"Not that I know of," It was after that sentence that the pain re-surfaced. She let it build up inside her at first, but let out a piercing scream when it got too much for her.

"It's happening again!" Fudo yelled.

Chrysanthemum couldn't control her breathing, with every inhale came with an agonising stab in the back of her lungs, and with every exhale, more and more black vomit oozed through any availabe gaps between her teath.

"I'll go get a nurse!" Fudo added before sprinting out the room.

"It's going to be alright, I'm here." Ichigo knelt beside her trembling figure and grasped her hand tightly. Soon enough, five nurses burst through the door along with Fudo who was trying to remain cool.

"I think you'd all better leave!" one of the nurses shouted, getting ready for yet another operation. The sting of the needle was the last thing the celestial mage felt before falling back to sleep.

After being shooed out of the room, the three sat in the waiting room, each more concerned than the next.

"I can't take this!" Ichigo sniffled before bursting out into tears. "You guys were my first friends and now one of them is in trouble and I can't help!"

"Erm... It's okay, Ichigo..." Nova awkwardly tried to comfort him as she clung onto Fudo's arm, trying not to let the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Excuse me," Another nurse came running up to them, "Are you patient 169's friends?"  
"Yes." Fudo answered.

"We may need your help in analising this sample." she quickly beckoned them to follow her and scurried off into another room. The three soon stood up and entered it. It was like a mini-science lab, the wallpaper completely contrasted with the pale blue colour that was on the other walls of the hospital. In the centre of it was a table, where a microscope and several samples of black vomit were situated. A crowd of nurses shrowded the other areas so there wasn't much else that could be seen. The nurse that showed them all in directed them to the centre of the table and asked them to look down the microscope. Nova was first. She peered down the slender lense and focused it onto the black sludge dwelling at the bottom. At first, it appeared to be nothing more than this, but as she looked closer, particles of magic energy came into view.

"That's wierd..." she commented as she drew back and allowed the other two to take a glance. They also noticed it.

"Can you think of anything this might be linked too?" the nurse asked frantically, "I'm afraid that if we don't find the answer soon, your friend will die."

Panic swept over the three mages, which only caused Ichigo to cry harder.

"Have you got a communication lacrima?" Fudo finnally asked.

"Yes, do you wish to borrow it?"

"Yeah, I need to phone a guild member!"

A shiny blue substance was passed to him and he dialed the number. "Hibiki! Can you hear me?" the dragon slayer yelled into it.

"Yes I can her you! You're shouting at me! Now what's the problem?"

"Chrys is ill and we don't know what to do about it. It's like a magic poison has made it's way into her."

"Hmmm, Where are you?"  
"The hospital in Galascia!"  
"I can never deny a lady help, I'll be on my way." he ensured before disconnecting.


	16. What's wrong with Chrys part

**Hi! Sorry about the length of this chapter, i'm not feeling to well right now. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

What's wrong with Chrys?: Part ||

Chrys woke up from yet another painful operation and for the first time in ages, she was truly scared. She wasn't scared of new blurred conversation, nor the pain that was amplifying with every heartbeat. She wasn't scared of her friend's reactions to her new ilness. She was scared of death. Death was staring her right in the face, and she couldn't prevent it. Was this how her sister felt before she got killed on that job? She would never know.

Back in the test lab, panic had struck. The nurses were baffled by the contents of the black poison, Fudo was in the corner of the room awaiting Hibiki's arrival, Nova was close to tears and Ichigo _was_ in tears.

"W-What are w-w-we gonn'a do?!" He sniffled, "I don't want Chrys-tan to die!"

"Calm down." Nova scolded, although her thoughts agreed with the crying light mage.

The noise of knocking on the door imediatley caught everyones' attension. A well-dressed Hibiki slowly opened it and scanned the room.

"Pardon me, ladies, but I was directed to this room by the lovely woman at the counter. Is this the testing room?" he asked smoothly. This charmed all but the dragon slayer.

"Hey Hibiki! What took you so long?! Chrys is dying over here!"

"Oh... Hi Fudo..." he took a few stepps toward a nurse, "Hello, there gorgeous..." He started before being interrupted yet again.

"Look through the damn microscope!"  
"Fudo, be quiet... Or I'll make you clean Christina."

"I'm being serious, if you don't hurry up, Chrys will die."  
"Chrys? Oh! I forgot! I was distracted by you pretty nurses! I'll get right to it!" He realized and hurried toward the microscope before peering down it. "This is definatly a poison... Has she been into contact with any magical beings lately?"

And the questions went on, Hibiki was desperatly searching through his archives.

The rate of the heart-monitoring lacrima grew fainter and fainter. This was when the only thing she could do was accept death's glare and belive that there was a heaven, and her sister was up there waiting for her. She thought she could do her mother proud, but instead she proved to be even worse than her older sibling. Her pale green hair fell out of it's tight grip and her fringe fell over her eye. At this point she was too weak to fix it. She was too weak to fix all her problems. Maybe it was for the best that she was dying. Her mother wouldn't have to be disapointed in her anymore. Maybe everyone was disappointed in her. She thought this was her turning point in life, but in the end, it was her pathetic defeat. Her disapearence from the earth would be silent and unoticable.

"I have it!" Hibiki yelled in delight. "We might not have the time to heal her completely, but she'll certainly remain alive."

"How do we cure her?" Nova cried.

"We need to purify her blood. It was contaminated by the house demon when it possesed her. The demon was obviously going to be defeated one day, so Zeref planted poison inside it, so it would take effect on whoever it last possesed. It's almost too late, so we won't manage to purify her completely though. Ichigo, use your light encasement spell on her when we get through to the other room!"

"Right!" Ichigo cheered in happiness, darting out of the door with everyone following behind.

She lay there, feeling her eye lids slowly close. The constant beeping of the lacrima had completely faded.

"Light rays gather from far and wide, help me now by being by my side, encase

the darkness from within, provide repent for mortal sin. Release!" What she thought was the last words she would ever hear echoed.

It was like being hurled up from under water after staying down there for as long as you could remember. That first breath was all it took to restore a lost life. The awakened Chrys jolted upwards after feeling oxygen enter her lungs to see the smiling face of Ichigo, who was soon joined by a vast number of nurses, Fudo, Nova and Hibiki, all equally as glad to peer into the eyes of an almost lost commerad.

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**Thank you for reading! Btw, Chrys being ill acctually leads on to something so it's not completely pointless. Thank you to all my reviewers and favoriters! It means a lot :3 And Fulminsa-chan, thank you for the suggestion! I might add that in later. I hope you're all looking forward to the next upload! x**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey, readers! Sorry it's taken me so long to upload.. My writing skills have kind of gone down hill as you'll probably notice from this chapter so I decided to make it a short one. It'll probably take me a long time to upload the next chapter as I have important exams I need to study for. Plus, what do you think of the picture I uploaded as the front cover? It's the first drawing I coloured in on the computer so sorry if it's terrible XD I was just using it to show you all what the characters are supposed to look like.. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading! ^^**

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"Chrys-taaaaaaaaan!" Ichigo yelled in excitement as he hurled himself towards the drowsy mage and flung his arms around her.

"Get off me!" the stunned Chrys shouted back as she pushed him away in aggravation and folded her arms.

"B-but... I missed you..." the upset light mage's eyes began to water, which didn't bother anybody for once.

"Thanks for the hold up." Nova hissed turbulently, also folding her arms. This provoked Chrys so much that she almost didn't notice Hibiki crouching beside her hospital bed.

"Chrys... I'm so glad you made it out alive... I was so scared for your safety that my heart almost broke in two..." he chorused, running his hand through his blonde hair and holding a rose in his mouth.

"Wu-what?!" Chrys questioned, feeling her face heat up. Fudo then cleared his throat, purposely interrupting Hibiki.

"Well.. um.. I'm glad you made it.." He then said, causing his face to go equally as red as hers, "On another note, I think we should get going." He added quickly to change the subject.

"I'm sorry, Fudo, but we can't allow Chrysanthemum to leave without any rest. I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a while longer." The nurse disdainfully informed.

"What?! Stay here because of _her?_" Nova cried in an outrage, "Fudo-kun, tell her that's not fair!" she tugged on his arm in a huff.

"Don't listen to her, Fu-chan!" Ichigo then tugged on his other arm.

"Guys... We're going to have to do what the nurse says." Fudo sighed, "And stop calling me Fu-chan!"

"Nice to see you all care so much..." The celestial mage butted in.

"I care..." Hibiki joined in, edging himself closer and closer to the green-haired girl.

"Uh-mm... If you're interested in staying somewhere closer to here then there's a hotel just along the road." The nurse tried to calm things down.

"Ugh, fine! But I'll only do this because Fudo-kun is!" Nova exhaled, finally backing down and giving the dragon slayer another cuddle.

"Okay, would you mind if I stayed with you guys? I used up all my energy getting here in the first place." Hibiki enquired, pulling back from the embarrassed Chrys.

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Ichigo replied without hesitation, "I'll go check us in!" he screamed in excitement.

"Well, at least that got rid of him for a while..." Nova remarked, saying something positive for once. "So, Hibiki, do you reckon the poison will have a long term effect on Chrys's body?" Fudo filled the silence.

"I'm not sure... It had already managed to infiltrate a lot of her soul by the time I got here."

"Guys! There's a snow resort near the hotel!" Ichigo burst through the door and bellowed into the once quiet room.

"Really? That sounds kinda fun.." Nova replied.

"Yeah, we should go whilst we're waiting for Chrys to rest up." Fudo agreed.

"Sure! I'd be up for that! If that's okay with you, my darling Chrys..." Hibiki added, giving the celestial mage a quick wink.

"Go knock yourselves out. I really don't care." Chrys sighed, ignoring the adoring gesture from Hibiki.


	18. The ghost train

**Hey, readers! I found time to write a new chapter... I hope you enjoy XD**

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Chapter 18 - The ghost train.

The soft hospital duvets caressed Chrys's slim figure as she turned over in her sleep. Her room wasn't as uncomfortable to stay in as it once was. She had even got used to the pungent smell of hand sanitizer and chemicals that lingered after every 'operation' or 'test' that the nurses ran on her daily. It would only be a matter of a few short days before she was aloud her freedom back. Or at least, that's what she thought anyway.

At the same time, the rest of the team where just awakening from their hotel rooms to gather for the snow resort.

"Morning, guys!" Ichigo chimed, stretching.

"Morning, Ichigo." Hibiki replied out of politeness. The rest just ignored him.

"So, when do you want to go?" Fudo asked, yawning.

"Now! Now!" the light mage replied, not letting anyone else speak and dancing around the room in delight.

"Can we not wait a bit? I've only just got dressed." Nova cut in.

"Exactly! Then we should go!"

"Ichigo... You're such an idiot." the gun mage replied in a stone cold voice, causing his face to drop.

"B-But Nova..." He wailed, tears accumulating in his wide eyes.

"For goodness sake, fine! As long as I don't have to put up with this the whole way through!" She snapped, folding her arms. The others decided just to go with it.

"Hooray!" His emotion suddenly switched as the four of them made their was to the resort.

As the celestial mage was about to fall back asleep, there was a knock at her door.

"Uh... Come in?" she called out as the door creaked open.

"Hello, Chrysanthemum, have you noticed that we haven't run any tests on you today?" Once of the nurses asked calmly, "Well, this is because of your friends managed to persuade us to let you spend the day with them up in the snow resort. He'll be by to pick you up shortly, so you'd better get dressed" She smiled, shutting the door carefully.  
"Wu-What?!" Chrys shrieked in horror.

**When she said 'persuade'. This is what really happened...**

As the three where leaving the hospital to check into a hotel, Hibiki decided to hang back for a bit. That's when he caught sight of one of the nurses.

"Hello, there." He said, in a silky smooth voice.

"Oh, evening." She replied, trying hard not look into his sparkling black eyes.

"May I ask a favour of this beautiful young lady?" he questioned flirtatiously, resting one arm on the wall behind her.

"Oh, that would depend-"

"Pretty please..." He started leaning closer and closer, causing the nurse to go a shade of red. He stopped when they where barely touching noses.

"O-Okay... What can I do for you?" She asked nervously, allowing his soft breath to stroke her face.

"I have a friend that's being kept here and I think she deserves a day out... Will you allow her to come with me and my friends to come to the snow resort with me tomorrow?"

"Uh-Of course.."

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As expected, another knock on the door came to pass soon enough.

"Ergh... Hi guys." Chrys said, opening the door to find her commerades.

"Hi Chrys!" Ichigo yelled, atempting to give her a hug and failing.

"I told you guys I didn't want to come." She said sternly.

"I thought you deserved a day out..." The archive mage said, running his fingers through his blonde hair and winking.

"Fine. I'll come with you. But don't expect me to have fun." She retorted angrily, following the four of them out of the hospital and along the route to the Galascia snow resort.

As soon as Chrys stepped out of the hospital, the cold weather hit her like a wave of shock. She'd spent so much time in there that she forgot about ruthless climate outside. A blast of artic air speared through her thick coat and prickled along her skin, sinkinig into her bones and causing her to let out a small yelp. She thought that after she walked for a bit that she would warm up. After a few more minutes of walking, the resort finnaly became visible through a thick forest of snowflakes and the hills behind it looked like scoops of vanilla ice cream. She looked down at her numb, shaking hands in disgust to see her warm breath colliding with the icy air to form steam. How where they supposed to have 'fun' in this weather? She looked across to see what reaction everyone else was having to it. Although due to their various expeditions, thay'd all got used to it and where perfectly fine. At this point, all she wanted to do was go back to the hospital.

"Look, everyone! There it is!" Ichigo shouted, pointing his finger at the large tourist attraction.

"Wow, it's so big!" Even Nova was slightly in awe of it. The closer they got to it, the more the celestial mage despised it.

They finnaly approached the entrance. A long que had formed behind a small wooden stall that was selling tickets. With weather like this, the last thing Chrys wanted to do was stand in a que for what would seem like ages. But soon enough, the five of them where standing together at the very end.

"Uhm... Is it just me that's having a problem with the cold?" the celestial mage shivered.

"Aww, Chrys-ie! It's okay, I'll warm you up, my sweet heart!" Hibiki called, flinging his arms around the green-haired (and now red-faced) mage.

"Warm me up too, Fudo!" Nova shouted, hugging the unsuspecting dragon slayer just as he was about to tell Hibiki to get off Chrys.

"Gwah!" He shouted as Nova hugged him tighter.

"Me too, Fu-chan!" Ichigo joined in as Fudo sweat-dropped. Soon enough, the que dyed down and they where at the front.

"Hello, and welcome to the Galascia Snow resort, how can I help you?" The ticket-salesman asked politely.

"Five tickets please!" Ichigo yelled excitedly as he handed them over.

"That would be 4000J please, and I'll give you a discount since there's five of you." He smiled.

"Thank you!" The light mage replied as he slipped the money over the wooden surface.

"You're very welcome. After all, I am one hell of a ticket salesman." he added as they walked away.

As Nova said, the resort was huge. Slides and rollercoasters where laid out as far as the eye could see.

"Let's go!" Ichigo Shouted enthusiastically, with everyone – apart from Chrys, who was being dragged – running after.

After hours of sliding and running around, the five of them where next to exhausted. There was still 2 hours left until it closed so they decided to go on a few more rides. Surprisingly, Chrys's mood was improving and she was starting to enjoy herself and loosen up more.

"Okay, we'll go on one more ride then we'll stop for something to eat." Fudo instructed.

"Okay, that sounds good to me." Chrys smiled back.

"Which one do you want to go on?" Hibiki questioned as they passed a poster advertising a ghost train.

"How about the ghost train?" Nova suggested, "But only if you protect me from all the scary monsters, Fudo!" she added.

"Yeah, okay!" Ichigo agreed as they made their way up a set of rickety, unstable metal stairs and joined the que. Although it was still cold, the celestial mage was starting to see the wonder of winter. She looked up at each individual snowflake spinning and cascading to the ground and peered back at her commerades. In a way, she was glad to be dragged out of her warm hospital bed and brought here.

"Chrys! Hurry up! It's our shot!" Fudo called, stretching out his hand. She then smiled and took his hand back, following him into the slim carrige and sitting next to him.

"Ahhh!" Nova screamed, "My hair tie just blew out of my hair! Help me find it!"

"But the ride's about to start!" Hibiki replied, "And Chrys and Fudo are already strapped in. It'll leave without us!"

"Find it now!" She demanded as Ichigo and Hibiki got down on their hands and knees, searching for Nova's hair tie.

"Found it!" Ichigo called as the carraige ride started to trundle away.

"W-We missed it..." Nova moaned in dismay, "That is so unfair! This is all your fault!"

"How is it our fault? You didn't even help us!" Ichigo retorted.

"_You _took too long to find it! And you shouldn't make a cute girl like me crawl around on her hands and knees!"

"Calm down, guys, we'll just have to go to the end and wait for them." Hibiki said with his face burried in his hand.

"Did they miss it?" Fudo questioned as the train started to move into a tunnel.

"I think so... We would've heard them by now if they were sitting on the carraige." she answered as it got darker and darker.

"Well, at least we'll get some peace and quiet."

"yeah..."

As they travelled deeper into the tunel, sounds could be heard from all over. This didn't scare anyone as it was to be expected. All that was visible was darkness. The slow trundling of the carraige and some added background effects where all that could really be heard. The two of them found it quite boring. Somewhere in the near distance, footsteps could be heard.

"I guess it might have been better with everyone else here... Some of the things they say are more entertaining than this ride." Chrys whispered.

The footsetps got closer and closer until the figure of a person was barely visible. As the train approached it, they saw that it was a clown. He stood there in an old circus outfit. His painted smile was filled with threat and his stance looked somewhat intimidating. Suddenly, Chrys's eyes began to widen and she began to tremble.

"F-Fudo... I really don't like clowns." she whimpered.

"It's okay, Chrys. It's not going to hurt you." Fudo calmly replied, "And it won't be here long, it's almost the end of the ride." he smiled through the darkness. This appeared to make her more at ease.

But just as they where passing the cloun, the celestial mage uttered a loud scream and threw herself into Fudo's arms without thinking, causing the dragon slayer to go slightly red.

"Uh... It's okay, Chrys." He said awkwardly, hugging her back. They sat in the same position until the train left the tunnel and light shed upon them. There was still another few minutes until the ride would be over and they would meet up with the rest of their team. When Chrys was sure that it was over, she looked up at the blushing dragon slayer. He then looked back at her, causing a shade of pink to wash over her pale skin. Slowly, Fudo leaned in. Chrysanthemum then copied and soon enough, their lips touched.


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey, guys =3 All I'm going to say is that something important's happening in this chapter... I hope you enjoy it XD**

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The Adventures of Chrysanthemum Lilica chapter 19

When they realized what they where doing, they pulled back immediately.

"Uh... Sorry..." Chrys murmured just before the train shuddered to a stop and the faces of their guild mates appeared.

"Hey guys! How was it?" Ichigo questioned.

"It was okay." Fudo replied shortly.

"You seem a little off... Is everything okay?" Nova questioned.

"Chrys! Where you scared? I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you!" Hibiki called out as he helped the celestial mage out of the carriage.

"Hey, do you guys want to go get something to eat?" Fudo changed the subject as he clambered out to join them.

"Sure!" Ichigo cut in before letting anyone else speak, "Let's go!" he yelled as he abruptly walked in the opposite direction. Everyone else decided just to follow him.

The three walked along to the nearest café to find something to eat before leaving.

"So, Chrys... Where you scared when I wasn't with you?" Hibiki flirted, gently sliding his arm over her back.

"No." she replied, blushing slightly as she remembered what actually happened.

"Aww, you're so cute when you're like that." He winked as she scowled.

"Well... She did get scared of the clown." Fudo commented, noticing her and Hibiki.

"Really? That's a bit weird." Nova sneered, giving Fudo a hug.

"You know what? I think I'll go back to the hospital." the celestial mage replied, embarrassed.

"You do that. I really don't care." Fudo replied as she cast a shadow over her face.

"Fine!" she yelled, pushing Hibiki's arm off her shoulder and running away.

"Chrys, wait!" Hibiki called after her, but was soon stopped by the dragon slayer.

"We'll go and see her in the hospital later." He said, hiding his guilt.

All the celestial mage could do was run. She didn't know what direction she was going, but in the end she didn't really care. All that really mattered to her was getting away from those people. As she was running, the harsh winds caught on her tears and made her face feel as if it was freezing. She just wanted to get away from Ichigo's annoying-ness, Hibiki's flirtatiousness, Nova's girlishness and Fudo's arrogance... Was it even arrogance? She didn't know. She exited the resort and made her way along a path until she saw a quiet patch of grass where she sat down for a bit. As she examined her surroundings she realized that it was slightly abnormal for grass to be growing in such cold weather. When she looked up to rid her eyes of tears, she looked across the landscape to see what looked like a trap door. At first, the mint-haired mage found it a rather ambiguous thing to come across. It looked as if someone wanted to hide it... Although they did a very poor job of doing so. She was fixated over what could be inside, and why someone would choose to hide it in the middle of a town. The only way to find out was to check it our for herself. Slowly, she stood up and walked along the crunchy grass until she knelt down and yanked the wooden door open. Inside? A long passage way. This only intrigued her more. What could be at the end? A long set of stairs stretched out until they reached a lit path. Chrys decided not to go down, but to lean in as far as she could to see if there was anything cool. She did as she thought. She propped the door up using one arm and used the other to help her balance. Unfortunately for her, this method wasn't an effective one as she lost her balance and tumbled down the stairs until she hit a hard, concrete floor.

"Oww..." She muttered, rubbing the arm in which she fell on as the trap door above her slammed shut. In the end, she decided that the path in front of her looked too interesting to pass on. She stood up and started following the enclosed passageway. All that could be heard where the echoing of her footsteps. All that could be seen where the flickering lanterns that lit the way to wherever this lead to, which probably wasn't that exciting. All the same, she was blinded by her fascination and was willing to carry on as far as this took her. She walked and walked until the sound of voices could be heard.

"Clara... I don't think that there's any here." A voice echoed.

"The boss told us that there was!" 'Clara' answered.

All of a sudden, Chrys panicked. There was nowhere to hide and people where coming closer and closer. She then thought about it for a bit and came to the conclusion that it wouldn't matter since they were probably workers or something. If they said anything then she would just apologize and leave.

"Is it just me or did you hear footsteps?" One of the voices asked.

"Well... There are three of us, Baka." The girl answered harshly before turning the corner and bringing herself into sight. As they said, there were three of them. Neither looked like workers. The girl was tall with blue, choppy, side-swept hair and wore a long cardigan with the insignia of a howling wolf on it. Beside her stood two guys, one was small and chubby with wide eyes and a blue coat, bearing the same guild mark as the girl and the other guy. The other guy was the opposite of the small one. He was tall, with shoulder length black hair and had narrow gold eyes that looked the celestial mage up and down before asking;

"Who are you?"

"I was just curious to see what was down here. But if you want me to leave then I will." She replied.

"Hey... I remember you! I battled you when I was spying on the Red Hood guild!" Clara shouted. As she claimed, Chrys also remembered their encounter in the forest... That was when she first met Fudo...

"She's from a legal guild. Take her down!" She commanded. Just as she ordered, the two guys activated their magic and attacked.

"Metal-make, Death scythe!" The Black-haired mage cast. Before their eyes, a metal death scythe appeared. He then used it to slash the celestial mage across the abdomen, causing a large amount of blood to spurt from out of her body and slap onto the floor.

"Ahhhh!" She screamed.

Just after that attack, the next boy attacked. He ran across the concrete corridor and hurled himself towards her, punching her in the face and causing her to fall to the ground in a puddle of her own blood, clutching her wounds.

"I'll finish her off." Clara stated, picking up her limp body and swinging her around, causing red liquid to stain the walls of the underground chamber. The celestial mage yelped as Clara let go of her body, causing her to almost fly across the room and smack against the wall. All she could do was lie there whimpering, as her eyes flickered and her body shook. Faint sounds of laughter could be heard as a hard object fell down in front of her. As her vision came into more focus, she saw that it was a brightly coloured stone.

"The boss was right! The stone was hidden in here after all..." Clara announced as she knelt down to pick it up.

Just as she was about to pick up the stone, it disappeared.

"Huh?!" She shrieked in horror as the limp body of the celestial mage got en-cloaked in a harsh light.

"What's... happening?" She trailed off as her and her comrades took a step back. Suddenly, the light became stronger and stronger until no one could see any more.

Finally, the light dimmed down and their vision was restored. Everything looked the same as before... Everything apart from Chrysanthemum. What was in the place of once weak young girl, stood a Demon.


	20. Questions answered

**Heyy! I'm really sorry I haven't been updating very often recently... I've been busy with school and stuff and haven't had any time to do this. Thank you all for wishing me good luck on my exams in November. I think I did okay with them. Anyway, I have yet another set of exams coming up soon, so I doubt I'll be uploading frequently until a few months time, sorry! Anyway, I've been planning this for ages now, I hope it all makes sense... I hope you like it! -smiley face-**

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As her eyes slowly peeled open. She took a glance at her hazy surroundings. She found herself lying on the ground unable to move. She recognized that she was still in the same underground tunnel as before when one of the wall lights almost blinded her, causing her to wince. It was when she felt the pain of the wounds from the previous events that she remembered what had just occurred. In a panic, she attempted to arise from her current position and stand up. Not managing to achieve much because of her dizziness and throbbing headache, she settled for a crouching position on the stone floor. She then scanned her surroundings from a new angle too see her three opponents lying on the ground... How did this happen? She was so bewildered by this that she almost didn't notice a furry, indigo exceed walk up behind her.

"Hello!~Nya!" It sang cutely, causing the celestial mage to get a fright and immediately look in it's direction. As soon as she saw the talking cat, she just managed to with-hold a yelp.

"W-What do you want?" She asked aggressively.

"...Uh... Was that you back there?" The timid cat questioned.

"What do you mean 'back then'? I didn't do anything."

"Huh? Are you sure? ~nya."

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I did something back there."

"Well, all I saw were my masters battling you... But you looked like a... Demon... ~nya."

"Well then, it mustn't have been me." Chrys concluded, just managing to haul herself of the floor. As she did so, she forgot about her sore head and immediately fell back to the ground in a new location. "Damn it..." She muttered as her skin touched the cold stone.

"I-I bandaged your wounds for you..." The Exceed grovelled.

"Cool." Chrys replied sternly, making another attempt to stand up and walk away. Well, that solved the question as to why she'd almost completely stopped bleeding. Although there were so many more unanswered questions that pestered her mind. Although her top priority at this point was getting out.

The Exceed looked puzzled. It couldn't work out why she was being so snappy, especially after the aid she'd just received.

"Excuse me..." The cat timidly asked.

"What now?!"

"C-C-C... CAN I PLEASE COME WITH YOU?!" He shrieked as his eyes began to water.

"No." Chrys said, attempting to speed-walk away.

"Why?! ~nya!" The indigo neko cried as he grabbed her leg.

"Get off me!"

"Why won't you let me come with you?!"

"Because I already have to put up with enough annoying little idiots!"

"I-I'm an annoying little idiot?" The Exceed looked up at her cutely, it's eyes continued watering, "W-WAHHHHH!" He cried loudly as tears trickled down it's cheeks.

"For goodness sake, shut up!" Chrys yelled, trying to shake the screaming exceed off her leg. "This really isn't doing my head any good you know!"

"P-Please let me come with you!" He continued, "I can answer all your questions!" Immediately, this perked the interest of the mage.

"Really?"

"Really! I know everything about what you're looking for!" He yelled, still in tears, and still gripping on tightly to her leg.

"Fine! As long as you shut up and tell me and the others about this when we get out of here!" She shouted in frustration.

"Yaaaaaaay! Thank you! ~nyaa! My name's Indie, what's yours?"

Completely ignoring any signs of affection, she shortly replied, "Chrysanthemum."

Finally, Indie let go of her leg and sprouted feathery, white wings to fly beside her. This increased their walking speed dramatically.

Now that Indie had stopped his loud crying, all that could be heard were the echoing of small footsteps. Luckily, Chrys hadn't traveled too far through the passageway before she got attacked, otherwise it would've been a labyrinth. Her footsteps lessened and finally came to a stop when the two reached the entrance.

"Great. There's no stairs. How do we get out?!" Chrys turned to the almost cowering exceed.

"I-I was going to fly you up... But if you don't want me to then that's okay... Nya..."

"Stop trying to make me feel bad and fly me up already." She snapped as the exceed carried out it's orders. Indie elegantly flapped it's wings and perched on Chrys's shoulders. Grabbing her under the arms, he began to flap at an increasing rate, eventually they achieved lift-off and silently flew up to the trap door. After a lot of effort, the celestial mage heaved it open and swiftly flew out. The two landed with a crunch on the frosty grass.

Chrys savored the first breath of fresh air she'd had in a long time. It was the first time she truly appreciated being outside. She turned around to get a better look at Indie since the light levels had increased dramatically. He was quite a chubby cat. His head shape looked like more of a side-ways oval than round, which was unusual compared to most other exceeds she'd seen. His long fur was a dark indigo colour, but when the light shined at just the right angle, traces of darker stripes became visible. His large, round, brown eyes stared at the mage expecting her to say something. He truly was a beautiful animal.

"Okay, Cat! Talk to me! What do you know?" Chrysanthemum exclaimed viciously.

"Ah! What do you want to know?" Indie questioned, intimidated.

"Okay, first of all, tell me who those people are. Next, what was that stone? What happened to me? Where did you come from?"

"Okay... The people you just fought where from the dark guild, Howling wolves. They're not part of the Baram alliance and their sole purpose is to gain control over the demons that you're trying to exterminate. They can do this through the use of stones, like the one that was in the underground tunnel back there. These stones are called 'Dusk stones', which as the name suggests, contain a lot of dark magic power. So much power in fact, that collecting 5 of them gives you the power to overcome a demon and control it. Although these stones are really rare and difficult to find, which is why they needed me. I was born with the unusual ability to trace these stones. I can sense this kind of magic power over large distances. They stole me and have been holding me captive since. They beat me and beat me until I told them where they could find the nearest stone. In the end, I had to give in. It hurt too much. I was hiding in the back corner when they attacked you. When they threw you against that wall, you released a dusk stone from a hole in the wall and it fell close enough to you that it activated something... I can sense it. A part of a demon is living inside of you... Yet there's not enough to control you... How did this happen? Because the amount of power that the stone emits reacted with the demon presence within you. And with the magic power that's already inside you, the total power added up to that of five of those stones. Although since you were almost defeated, you summoned the demon subconsciously and beat all three of the guild members single-handed. Because you weren't conscious when you were attacking them, you didn't remember a thing when you woke up. Whilst you were asleep, I retrieved a first aid kit from Clara's bag and treated your wounds for you."

"Wow... That's a lot to take in." Chrys then explained to Indie about how the demon has possessed her, but left part of it inside her. She then continued to explain that in order to prevent it from taking over her completely, her 'friend' Ichigo has to use a light concealment spell on her.

"I need to tell the others about this... I'm going to go find them, and you're coming with me." The celestial mage said after swiping the Exceed off the ground and carrying him away.


End file.
